Do Not Let This Consume You
I have a friend who is a therapist and specializes in neurofeedback. I love to nerd out with him about the subject.
A little background on neurofeedback. It entails putting leads on specific areas on the head to measure various aspects of brainwaves emitted. The energy is emitted in a variety of patterns. Some are normal patterns; others are patterns of dysregulation. Using a computer, the brain is trained via brain games in an effort to mitigate dysfunctional patterns and bring them to a more normalized state.
One of the more fascinating things he explained to me was how he doesn’t like to put a diagnosis (label) on the various dysregulations he treats. Rather, he likes to show the client how their symptoms match the areas of dysfunction and a game plan to regulate them.
I was confused. Why wouldn’t he want to tell people what they have going on (ADHD, anxiety, depression, etc…). His rationale was that, to some extent, giving a diagnosis can be a little self-prophesizing and in turn, the person makes their diagnosis their whole identity versus just a part of their whole being.
It got me thinking…
How many times do we let a label define us?
The military loves labels…rank, duty titles, and medals. We slap them all over our uniform in some sort of effort to silently…
