Are diagnostic labels helpful or harmful?: The Pros and Cons of a Diagnosis

The National Institute of Mental Health (2024) estimated that 23.1% of adult Americans have a mental illness. Some will receive a formal diagnosis according to established criteria, but some will receive information about a diagnosis through social media.

This means that the discussion surrounding mental health diagnoses or labels is more prevalent than ever, particularly with the rise of influencers discussing their mental health and diagnoses. It means that it’s also important to consider the pros and cons of a mental health diagnosis, particularly in the modern age where so many people put their lives on social media for the world to see, when the rest of the world will form an opinion about someone based on the information they put online.

The Positive Impact of a Mental Health Diagnosis
There are in fact many positives towards gaining a mental health diagnosis, such as the sense of community one might gain by knowing now that others face similar struggles and having people to talk to about their problems (Dellaquila, 2025). Humans are social beings, and require a support network. Receiving a diagnosis helps provide some of that support, and tells people that they aren’t alone.

Understanding why they behave or think a certain way can help tremendously. It’s especially beneficial for those who were diagnosed later in life, as it allows them to recontextualize events in their past and things they were told (Mosley, 2025). A mental health diagnosis can result in people acknowledging that individuals might behave a certain way due to their mental health condition, rather than assuming a personal failing of the individual (Dings & Kubillus, 2025). This is beneficial as it can help give people more motive to understand why someone acts a certain way, rather than attributing certain behaviors as a judgement on who they are as a person.

One study (Haslam, 2024) found that people were more empathetic about someone if told that their behavior was due to a mental illness, which illustrates that it isn’t just the diagnosed individual themself that is helped by a diagnosis, but that others are also helped by it. The diagnosis label helps to explain certain behavior that may otherwise be frustrating. For instance, auditory processing disorder (APD) is a disorder that can result in an individual struggling to hear the person speaking to them (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2023), along with its other symptoms. Having to repeatedly reiterate themself might annoy the speaker, or even cause them to think that they’re intentionally trying to aggravate them, but knowing that the other person has auditory processing issues might help to mitigate the annoyance.

Another positive effect lies in being able to reclaim a label that is often stigmatized against (Starnes, 2021), as a way of taking back their power. For instance, people with depression can also be considered lazy (Capasso, 2024), but by receiving the label, individuals suffering from depression are able to push back at the idea of it being “laziness” and acknowledge that it’s their mental condition impacting their executive function.

In addition, a diagnosis helps to provide access to treatment that might not otherwise be available. For example, one of the most prescribed medications for the treatment of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is Adderall, a medicine that is highly regulated by the government. A formal diagnosis allows those with ADHD to get access to medicine that helps them to manage their condition. ADHD can be frequently mistaken for depression (NeuroLaunch, 2024) and/or other mental health conditions, which has one of its most common medications prescribed – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) (Mayo Clinic Staff, 2024). SSRIs are good for managing mood disorders, and can help with some symptoms of ADHD, but the primary purpose of SSRIs isn’t focusing on the cognitive impairments and executive dysfunction that are some of the major symptoms of ADHD. 

A formal diagnosis also provides access to non-medicinal treatment, such as cognitive-behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, humanistic therapy, and more. Different therapies involve different techniques, and are effective for different issues, which is why a diagnosis is so helpful. It tells the practitioner what help is being sought for, which forms the treatment plan. Having a diagnosis allows for evidenced-based treatment to be used for that specific issue (Barnes, 2023). For instance, dialectic behavioral therapy (DBT) has been proven to be particularly effective for borderline personality disorder (BPD) (Watson, 2024), as it focuses on teaching skills that are specifically designed with BPD symptoms in mind.

These aren’t the only benefits, of course. For Americans in particular, it’s impossible not to talk about the legal benefits that can accompany a diagnosis. Under the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), it is illegal to discriminate based on disability against certain individuals in a wide manner of cases, such as with employment. It isn’t just things such as race or sexuality that’s protected under the ADA. Mental illnesses are as well, such as autism, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, and more. This means that receiving one of these diagnoses grants certain legal protections, such as the right to reasonable accommodation and support.

A formal diagnosis also helps to alleviate some of the financial impact, as a formal diagnosis allows for proof to be provided so that insurance can cover some of the cost for treatment and evaluation (Admin KMHC, n.d.).

While there are benefits to a self-diagnosis as well, such as the fact that it can still allow for a sense of community and the relief of finally knowing what the problem is, it doesn’t allow for the same legal or financial benefits. Both insurance and the ADA require formal documentation for the mental health diagnosis to be covered.

The Negatives of Diagnoses
While there are many positives of being diagnosed, there are also many drawbacks. One of the primary ones is the stigma associated with having a mental illness. As Haslam (2024) pointed out, naming conditions can just as easily increase stigma as it may decrease it. There are many things that influence the stigmatization of mental health, one of which is the way we speak of ourselves and how others speak of us (Barnes, 2023). An individual diagnosed with depression can become a “depressed person,” rendering the diagnosis into an inherent part of their identity. This is part of why person-first language is so important, as rather than presenting the condition first, it describes the individual as a person who exists outside of their diagnosis and just happens to have that condition, rather than being that condition (National Institutes of Mental Health, 2025). This topic leads into part of why it’s important to bear in mind that a mental illness is defined as “a mental, behavioral, or emotional disorder” (National Institute of Mental Health, 2024), with a serious mental illness being one that impairs some level of an individual’s functioning. Therefore, a mental health diagnosis is supposed to be a label that describes a certain pattern of thinking, behavior, or feeling that impacts an individual’s life. A mental health diagnosis is not a description of a person’s self, nor their identity.

However, some people can overidentify with their disorder (Dellaquila, 2025), or be overidentified by others. This overidentification can play a role in people viewing mental illness as something that people can never recover from, as the Haslam (2024) study also found this to be a trend among participants when told of the diagnosis. This belief is part of the stigma of having a mental illness. People may stop viewing you as an individual who has a condition, and start defining you according to your condition.

While discussing a mental health diagnosis, it’s also important to consider the idea of concept creep, which is when criteria for a diagnosis continuously expands over the years. As Altmann et al. (2024) pointed out, the broadening criteria for a diagnosis can contribute to people believing that the diagnosed individual lacks control over their life and problems. This contributes to the belief that they might not recover.

It’s also important to note that a formal diagnosis can have negative financial impacts. A neuropsychological evaluation for autism diagnosis, for instance, can cost over 3000 US dollars, and may cost more for others as it involves multiple tests and observations – which can cost over $5000 (Advanced Autism Services, 2025). If the one seeking the diagnosis lacks insurance, an official diagnosis might be out of reach.

In addition, in the case of self-diagnosis, they often fail to take into account other disorders with similarities or comorbid disorders (Jaramillo, 2023). For example, both bipolar disorder and BPD have impulsivity, reckless behavior, and mood swings among their symptoms, yet bipolar disorder is often treated with prescribed medicine like mood stabilizers (Coryell, 2026) while there are no approved medications for BPD. Anxiety and depression are also both disorders that have symptoms overlapping with many others (Jaramillo, 2023). Self-diagnosis often overlooks similar disorders, even if those disorders might be more applicable.

In short, there are both positives and negatives to having a mental health diagnosis. Receiving one, especially a formal one, offers the support of a community and an understanding for why you might think, feel, or behave a certain way. It also provides legal protection, as well as helping to provide access to doctoral support with insurance. It can also lead to others empathizing with you more to learn that something you do or say is influenced by a mental illness.

However, it can lead to overidentifying with your diagnosis, increased stigma if others learn you have one, others believing that you have a lower chance of recovery, and financial impairment if you lack insurance.
   
References
Altmann,B., Fleischer, F., Tse, J., & Haslam, N. (2024). Effects of diagnostic labels on perceptions of marginal cases of mental ill-health. PLOS Mental Health, 1(3). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmen.0000096
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Advanced Autism Services. (2025, August 8). How much does an autism evaluation cost? https://www.advancedautism.com/post/how-much-does-an-autism-evaluation-cost
Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990, 42 U.S.C. § 12101 et seq. (1990).
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Capasso, M. (2024, March 25). Dismantling the ‘laziness lie’ about depression. Bezzy Depression. https://www.bezzydepression.com/discover/dep-lets-talk-about-it/health-youre-not-lazy-you-struggle-with-depression/ 
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Dellaquila, D. (2025, April 16). Getting lost in the label: Living beyond the diagnosis. Gateway to Solutions. https://www.gatewaytosolutions.org/living-beyond-the-diagnosis/
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Haslam, N. (2024, August 28). Diagnostic labels may increase our empathy for people in distress. But there are downsides too. The University of Melbourne. https://findanexpert.unimelb.edu.au/news/91379-diagnostic-labels-may-increase-our-empathy-for-people-in-distress.-but-there-are-downsides-too
Jaramillo, J.A. (2023, April 10). Down the rabbit hole of self-diagnosis in mental health. University of Colorado Denver. https://www.ucdenver.edu/student/stories/library/healthy-happy-life/down-the-rabbit-hole-of-self-diagnosis-in-mental-health
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