The Risk of Labels

In my career as a veterinarian, the way I practice medicine has changed over the years. We learn big broad labels for things, and this helps keep all the information neatly organized and readily accessible.

But every disease process happens differently. Every patient is different.

Current, modern society is very good at putting labels on problems — depression, anxiety, infection, etc. And once a label is applied, there is an equivalent treatment — anti-depressants, anxiolytics, antibiotics.

But, our bodies and our brains don’t work like that. We are not equipped with on-off switches — depressed Y/N? anxious Y/N? infected Y/N? And we can’t be treated with a simple on-off pill.

We exist on a spectrum. Thousands of spectrums, actually. We are a cloud of possibilities. Our problems also exist on a spectrum, and usually with many different inputs and outputs. Are you a lot or a little depressed? Is your depression from something that happened to you, or something that happened to your ancestors, or is because of your diet, or your environment?

So many things contribute.

We have this tendency to like labels, and we have them for everything: Are you nice or mean? Smart or dumb? Rich or poor?

These are well-known examples, and many of us now realize you can be nice in some situations and mean in others, smart in some ways but not in others, rich in some aspects but not in others.

What about more controversial labels: man or woman? Healthy or sick? Republican or Democrat (Liberal or Conservative)?

I’m a woman with many masculine tendencies. I have chronic thyroid disease but I’m string and healthy. I agree with ideas from both political sides, but disagree with others.

The problem with labels is they are too rigid to define ME.

I am not an either/or. I am an and.

Each of us is unique, occupying a very specific and individualized place on the human tapestry. We are pieces in a puzzle, no two shaped the same.

So while labels help us organize, they also also restrain. And we will never get to know a person’s full potential (or our own) until we release the labels holding us back.

So the next time you are tempted to label someone, or a friend tells you someone is a [insert label here], remember there is far more to them than we could ever find words for.

cover photo by Miguel Á Padriñán via Pexels