Overdiagnosis Culture: You Don’t Need a Diagnosis to Deserve Care
- Adriane Barroso
- Jul 18
- 2 min read
Rethinking overdiagnosis, emotional complexity, and what therapy is really for
There’s a beautiful shift happening: more people are naming their mental health needs, talking openly about their struggles, and seeking help.
But with that shift has come something else, too. We’ve started labeling every feeling. And somewhere along the way, we’ve begun to believe that we need a diagnosis.
The overdiagnosis culture
We scroll past symptom lists for ADHD, high-functioning anxiety, burnout, or trauma responses, and sometimes they speak to us in real ways. But sometimes, they flatten us.
The nuance disappears. The complexity of what we feel gets converted into content. And the soft, strange, very human moments of sadness, longing, irritability, or emotional fatigue get called a disorder when they’re often just... life.
Feeling tender isn’t a pathology. Missing someone doesn’t mean you're depressed. Struggling with transitions doesn’t mean you’re broken.
We’ve gone from ignoring mental health to pathologizing the full range of human experience — and neither extreme holds the truth.
Therapy isn’t for “disorders.”
It’s for people.
At Real Talk, we believe in the importance of good clinical care — we know diagnoses matter in many contexts. But they’re not a requirement for being seen.
Therapy should be a place to pause. To reflect. To not know. To ask new questions.To be cared for in the middle of the mess, without having to justify your pain.
You are not a checklist.
You are a human being, not a diagnosis. And you are allowed to seek help, not because something is clinically wrong, but because you want something to feel different.
We hope you find that space. We hope therapy gives you room to breathe. And we hope you remember:
You simply need to discover a way to feel comfortable being yourself.
🗨️ Want to talk?
Our therapists at Real Talk are here to offer thoughtful, inclusive care. Whether you're working through something — or simply want to explore who you are — we’re here for it.
