Tags: Stop believing in your label—you don’t have it

Watch out, ladies and gentlemen. Because sooner or later, most diagnoses and labels become part of your identity. My urgent advice to you? Stop believing in a label before it defines who you are.

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The thick bible of psychiatry: From 120 to 1,200 pages

Let’s start with an important disclaimer. If your doctor tells you that you only have six weeks to live due to a physical illness, that’s obviously terribly distressing. That’s not what I’m talking about today.

What am I actually talking about? All those handy, convenient mental labels we find in the DSM-5 these days.

The DSM-5 is the psychiatric bible we use to diagnose the whole world. Think of ADHD, ADD, PDD-NOS, or Asperger’s. Oh, wait a minute...

By the way, Asperger’s doesn’t exist anymore! Since the DSM-5 was published, Asperger’s has suddenly ceased to exist. They simply removed it. So did you have Asperger’s before that? Luckily, not anymore! Now you’re “just” somewhere on the autism spectrum.

That’s how fast it goes. One moment you have a disorder, the next moment a committee decides it no longer exists. Just like multiple personalities—they’re called something else now, too.

To understand how we’ve gotten caught up in this “label culture,” we need to take a step back in time:

• The 1950s (DSM-1): The very first psychiatric bible was published. Do you know how thick it was? Just 120 pages.
• The 1990s to the present (DSM-3, 4, and 5): Today’s DSM-5 is a whopping 1,200 pages long. Ten times as thick—and believe me, the font hasn’t gotten any bigger. I once burned that book. It literally took hours for that massive tome to turn to ash.

The economics behind the diagnosis

How is it possible that in just seventy years, we’ve suddenly ended up with ten times as many disorders? Have we collectively gone crazy? No, it’s a matter of market forces.

In the 1950s, when the DSM-1 was published, psychoanalysis was flourishing. As a client, you could easily end up with 500 to 600 sessions. So, as a psychiatrist, having just ten or so patients in your practice was enough. You had a fantastic annual income, worked at a leisurely pace, and life went on at its own pace.

But then Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis came along with their research on cognitive behavioral therapy. They claimed something revolutionary: “It can also be shorter. You’ll be there in twenty sessions.” Well, those men were vilified back then. Vilified!

Did you really think the establishment was just waiting for shorter treatment programs? If you go from 500 sessions to 50 sessions per client, you suddenly need ten times as many clients to earn the same income.

It wasn’t until the 1990s that cognitive behavioral therapy was scientifically proven. And what a “coincidence”—around the same time, the DSM-3 and DSM-4 were also published. Because therapy sessions were getting shorter, more diagnoses were simply needed to keep practices afloat. And so the “bible” grew thicker and thicker.

Everyone fits into the system (even the neighbor)

When I read through the DSM back then, I made a shocking discovery. It probably won’t surprise you, but I could immediately check off about seven disorders for myself. And the great thing is: everyone fits the criteria. Even researchers point out that some terms are too broad[1].

Take, for example, this wonderful “disorder” I came across there:

If you’re standing at the window watching what’s happening outside, then you have a disorder.

When I read that, I immediately thought of the older ladies in my village. They sit by the window all day, peering out to see what the neighbors are up to. According to official guidelines, all those people could be diagnosed with a pervasive disorder. Maybe they all need a little pill!

And do you actually feel completely normal? Just calm, average, stable? Watch out, because according to the book, you probably have a mild cognitive behavioral disorder. I’m not making this up—it’s really in there.

The chances that you’ll walk out with a label when you go to a psychiatrist with your soul on your sleeve are enormous. Why? Because the entire system is geared toward reimbursement.

• No diagnosis? No insurance coverage.
• Do you have a diagnosis (such as ADHD)? Then your treatment will be covered, and you’ll receive medication.
• Got another diagnosis (like ADD or ASD)? Then we can treat you for even longer, you’ll get even more coverage, and you’ll have to pay less out of pocket.

It seems like a win-win situation, but there are two major catches. First, it will be recorded in your medical file, which could hinder you in the future when applying for jobs. Second (and this is much more dangerous): you’ll start believing it yourself.

You don’t have it—you do it

I’ve written a book specifically on this topic titled *You Don’t Have It, You Do It*. Of course, all sorts of things happen in your brain, but that’s true for everyone. Our brain is extremely neuroplastic.

• If I play chess all day, I’ll develop a chess mind.
• If I do gymnastics all day, I get a “gymnast’s brain.”
• If I spend the whole day training myself to be incredibly busy and restless, my brain adapts to that activity.

Is it the chicken or the egg? Do you have a brain that makes you act busy, or does your busy behavior make your brain look that way?

What is certain is that 99.9% of people diagnosed with ADHD have never had an fMRI scan. The diagnosis is based purely on a subjective questionnaire. As a result, such a child is prescribed medication, while environmental factors are barely taken into account.

Do the parents also exhibit ADHD symptoms? If so, the children will pick up that behavior very quickly. Has this been proven to be genetic or hereditary? Not necessarily. Is behavior contagious? Absolutely. After all, children mirror behavior.

Don’t get me wrong: everyone should be free to do as they please. If you’re comfortable with a label, that’s fine. But we’re rapidly heading toward a medicalized world where a few big players are getting very rich.

I have nothing against profit or healthy businesses. Pharmaceutical companies save lives every day with incredible medical innovations. But as soon as your mental health challenge becomes purely a profit model, we have to start asking ourselves a few critical questions.

The Trap of Internalized Identity

The greatest danger of a diagnosis is that you start to internalize it . At first, a label often provides comfort and validation. “Oh, see, there’s a reason why I’m this way.” But as soon as those around you start viewing you permanently through that lens, it becomes your identity. And good luck trying to shake it off from there[2].

We see this very clearly in communities like Alcoholics Anonymous (AA). Don’t get me wrong—the accountability within AA is fantastic, and that’s precisely why they’re successful. But the philosophy behind it? “You’re addicted, and it’s a chronic disease.” That becomes a mantra.

I know people who haven’t touched a drop of alcohol in thirty years, but still say every week, “I’m Edwin, and I’m an alcoholic in recovery.” Then I think: When on earth are you ever “out of recovery”? If you haven’t done something for thirty years, then you’re not that anymore, are you?

Within that world, they also try to instill fear in you: “If you have just one more drink, you’ll be right back where you started.” What nonsense. I understand that you want to keep people afraid as a precaution so they don’t relapse, but psychologically speaking, it’s a very bad method[3].

In conventional addiction clinics, the success rate hovers around 10%. That simply means the treatment method isn’t effective. And that’s largely due to the imposition of that identity.

Why I’m Never “Clean”

People sometimes ask me how I’m doing, since I’ve had my share of experiences with alcohol and drugs in the past. I’ve been clean for twenty years now. But you’ll never hear me say that I’ve been “clean” for twenty years or that I’m a “recovering addict.” I just don’t do it anymore. Period.

Why do I refuse to accept that identity? Because doing so leaves the door to the past ajar. Imagine if my life were to completely fall apart tomorrow, if my wife were to pass away, or if my business were to go under...

If my deep-seated identity is still that of an “alcoholic,” then in the face of a major crisis, I’ll slip right back into that old behavior. After all, your identity determines your actions.

Take the hard road: Learn to do something different

The same goes for so-called “behavioral disorders.” Just the term itself: “behavioral disorder.” You don’t have ADHD; you’re just acting very hyper right now. And yes, you have to deal with that. You aren’t “easily distracted”—you let yourself get distracted easily, or you distract yourself easily. That’s a fundamental difference. It means there’s an action behind it, and actions can be changed.

Of course, you’ll face challenges along the way. And in the beginning, it can be quite reassuring to know what’s going on.

But use that calm moment to say, “Okay, so this is what I do. How can I now teach myself to do something different?”

Don’t say: “I can’t help it; that’s just the way I am.”

You aren’t like that; you just act that way. And that’s not a bad thing, but you do have to deal with it—probably for the rest of your life.

Hypnosis for Your New Identity

And do you know what the absolute best way is to permanently change that identity and behavior? Hypnosis.

Why? Because with hypnosis, you communicate directly with the subconscious mind[4]. That’s where all those ingrained patterns, traumas, and learned labels are stored. If you try to change through sheer willpower alone, you’re constantly fighting against the current.

Hypnosis rewrites your internal software. It helps you let go of limiting labels and effortlessly establish a new, strong, and healthy identity. You stop “doing” the problem and start “doing” the solution.

Isn’t it much more practical to address your behavior this way, rather than taking Ritalin for the rest of your life? Ritalin is, in fact, just a kind of disguised speed that happens to calm you down. Do you really want to put that into your body for thirty or forty years, along with all the vague side effects that come with it?

Once again: medicine has been one of the greatest advances in human evolution. It’s incredible that we can cure diseases with pills and injections. But we’re getting a little carried away now.

Think about it carefully for yourself: will you choose the pill (the easy way out) or will you choose real behavioral change? If you choose the pill, you have my blessing. That’s perfectly fine.

But consider taking the harder path. You’ll learn infinitely more about yourself, you can share your lessons with those around you, and you’ll benefit from it many times over in the long run.

And use hypnosis to make that difficult journey easier.

Helping people find an easier path

Do you want to help people let go of labels? Knowledge of hypnosis is incredibly valuable in that regard.

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