The Story Behind the Label

By: Dr. Bernadette Solorzano, LPC-S

What are the implications of labeling clients?

In my experience, what words we use matters when describing anything. There is a concept that reality is created in language. The story we tell ourselves about who we are can limit or empower. The way we discuss things as clinicians become either inviting people into an illness narrative or reifying a position of brokenness which then can lead to hopelessness.

Seeking therapy is an act of hope that our clients have an expectation that they will improve their lives. I believe that therapy can be a tool to make sure we are remaining healthy with our coping strategies and remind us of our resiliencies that we can sometimes become too overwhelmed to see. I have trained from what is called a “strength-based” perspective where while listening to the challenges, we are also listening for the times that you manage to push the problem aside and cope.

It is my belief that the diagnostic manual utilized by mental health professionals to diagnose to seek reimbursement from insurance companies. The one challenge with the DSM-5 it is a book of deficits, but it uses behavioral descriptions to label the person. It is easier to tackle a behavior that is getting in the way then to change an entire label. Some people take comfort that there is a name for their experiences, but others find it reductive and punitive making them feel hopeless and broken. I believe that my role is to have a collaborative conversation that helps clients find more balanced perspectives of who they are.