# Why We’re Turning Psychiatric Labels Into Identities  ## Metadata - Author: [[Manvir Singh]] - Full Title: Why We’re Turning Psychiatric Labels Into Identities - Category: #articles - Summary: insert summary - My notes: - Summary: The text discusses how psychiatric labels can shape individual identities and experiences, influencing how people understand and deal with mental illness. It highlights the impact of changes in diagnostic systems, such as the DSM-5, on conditions like autism spectrum disorder, sociopathy, and borderline personality disorder. The author explores how psychiatric classifications can affect self-perception and behavior, emphasizing the evolving nature of mental health diagnoses. - URL: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/05/13/why-were-turning-psychiatric-labels-into-identities - Source File: web-only ## LLM Chats ## NotebookLM ## LLM Audio ## Highlights >  ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01hxabvqy26f35ck0gc27w0jzh)) > The *DSM* as we know it appeared in 1980, with the publication of the *DSM-III.* Whereas the first two editions featured broad classifications and a psychoanalytic perspective, the *DSM-III* favored more precise diagnostic criteria and a more scientific approach. Proponents hoped that research in genetics and neuroscience would corroborate the *DSM’s* groupings. Almost half a century later, however, the emerging picture is of overlapping conditions, of categories that blur rather than stand apart. No disorder has been tied to a specific gene or set of genes. Nearly all genetic vulnerabilities implicated in mental illness have been associated with many conditions. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0nkjv9mw90nzcsq7fyhj00f)) > As the philosopher Ian Hacking observed, labelling people is very different from labelling quarks or microbes. Quarks and microbes are indifferent to their labels; by contrast, human classifications change how “individuals experience themselves—and may even lead people to evolve their feelings and behavior in part because they are so classified.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0nknaddxzv73khzgk9thdg9)) > Just as personality tests (see, I’m an introvert!), astrological signs (I’m a Libra!), and generational monikers (I’m Gen Z!) are used to aid self-understanding, so are psychiatric diagnoses. When Paige Layle was fifteen, a psychiatrist told her that she had autism spectrum disorder. She describes the rush of clarity she experienced when hearing the *DSM-5* criteria: “*I’m not crazy. I’m not making it up. I’m not manipulative or trying to fake anything. . . . There’s a reason why I’m the way that I am*.” ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0nkrfxwjm3889spcxyw5q9m)) > What it means to be autistic, however, is constantly in flux. Over the past twenty years, the prevalence of autism in the United States has quadrupled, according to the C.D.C. A major driver of this surge has been a broadening of the definition and a lowering of the diagnostic threshold. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01j0nktrgqvtxwyzwdcnn8hn6h))