The scary truth behind what ' s now a common ' illness ' " In my time I ' ve been diagnosed as having ADHD , clinical depression , borderline personality disorder and lately I ' m told I ' m bipolar ". Graham sat in my office reeling off past diagnoses like a keen traveller recounting all the places they ' d been . But he didn ' t sound keen at all . " At first I was relieved . I felt like the
depression wasn ' t my fault . That I had a disease . That I ' d been born with the wrong chemicals . But looking back it ' s clear I was depressed for very good reasons . My life wasn ' t right the way I was living it ." Graham continued : " Over the years I ' ve been given so many different labels and treated with so many different drugs . It ' s like I ' ve forgotten who I am beneath all the conditions I ' m supposed to have ; all the medications I ' ve swallowed ." " Do you believe any of these diagnoses ?" I asked . " I used to , because , well they ' re the experts . But I ' ve had so many things supposedly wrong with me over the years it ' s like they ' ve run out of ideas ." For some it can feel like a relief to be told what ' s " wrong ". It was for Graham . But there are dangers to being labelled . Dangers perhaps you need to know about .
It ' s a big thing to be diagnosed , told you ' have something ' - to be persuaded by authority that you can only expect to ' manage ', not cure , some condition you didn ' t know you had .