What is a diagnosis?

A diagnosis is a way of summarizing your experiences with a single title like, “Arachnophobia”. Insurance companies usually ask for a diagnosis when they are asked to pay for someone’s services. Some people find it helpful to give a name to the experiences they are having because it connects those experiences to a bunch of other people who have had similar experiences and have successfully felt better. We can use other people’s successful experiences to help us figure out how you can feel better too. Other people really don’t like to be labeled and find technical names to be stifling and pathologizing. Please discuss any concerns you have about diagnoses with me and we can talk about it more.