@jeannie Well said.

@jeannie This should be said/heard more often. Thank you.

@jeannie I agree that diagnoses can sometimes be confining and counterproductive. On the other hand, I've found that they can also sometimes be helpful in understanding myself. When my psychiatrist said I had ADD at 29, my response was: "Oh, so much of my life suddenly makes a lot more sense. I wasn't just a lazy procrastinator; part of what was going on was I fighting a chemical imbalance in my brain and using last minute anxiety as a coping mechanism." //@grayareas @Gabz @crossingthethreshold

@Bruce I agree. When I understood the personality traits of introversion and high sensitivity (Sensory Processing Sensitivity), understood them as neutral traits but personality traits none the less, it helped me understand myself so much better. I could let go of expectations and judgements that I put on myself, and I can also see (have seen) how a clinging onto those definitions can in my view hold people back. I am also an Englishman living in Hawaii, married, a practising Buddhist for 30 years, etc. Knowing about aspects of my personality enables me to understand myself more deeply, share that understanding with others, and better manage my being in the world. // @jeannie @grayareas @Gabz

@jeannie such a fascinating post. I am writing the umpteenth draft of a post about a diagnosis I received this year. Having a label has, like @bruce says, enabled me to make sense of my life. But I am equally aware it does not define me.

@bix I think time is definitely required before a diagnosis stops defining who you are, don't be afraid to give yourself that regardless of what supposedly has worked for others. I've been blind since birth and it doesn't define me at all, it's just part of who I am. That said, I've worked with many many folks who lost their vision later in life, blindness totally defines them and will for a long time.

@bix saying my diagnosis doesn’t define me is perhaps more of an affirmation than I’d like to admit right now. It most definitely has defined me, but I hope that over time that will diminish.

@Bruce That's certainly true too. I think a lot of these issues are better thought of as personality types rather than disorders, and it can always help to understand a little better the pluses and minuses of how we function in the world. // @jeannie @Gabz @crossingthethreshold

@grayareas I don’t think of ADD as a disorder, but there’s definitely a physiological component. For the want of a better word, the “clutch” in my brain is a lot less sticky when I take Concerta. 🙃

Also, for my pretty intense depression/trauma, meds definitely make it significantly easier to function. And I don’t know if I could do therapy without them. (One day when I took lamictal after therapy, I kept choking on feelings I wanted to tell my therapist; my psychosomatic defenses weren’t having it. 🤯)