Personal Reflection On Labeling And Categorize People

I have mixed feelings about becoming a professional in a system that categorizes and labels individuals. On one hand, I feel that this is an extremely helpful and logical way of approaching how to help individuals who have some sort of pathology. I like that this profession has a set manual for diagnosing people with pathologies and that this manual has very specific instructions on how to diagnose individuals. Also, I feel that putting people into a category also for all professionals in this field, to have a universal way of knowing for what they are treating people. I feel that if we did not label and categorize people, then there would be a lot of confusion between professionals on how the individual should be diagnosed or treated.
On the other hand, I dislike the use of labeling and categorizing. For me, this method feels like we are almost forgetting that this is an individual and not a pathology. People should be not be defined by their disorder, but should instead be defined by who they are as a person. I think that often times, this method of labeling someone, begins to define more of who they are then many other characteristics of their life. This is going to be different for all people depending on who they are as a person, and the pathology with which they were labeled. I wish there was a way to diagnose an individual without “putting them in a box”. However, I do understand that this is a scientific field that that in order to be effective clinicians, labeling people is often times something we have to do. Also, there is the issue of how the individual feels about being labeled or categorized. …show more content…
I know that some people may be hesitant to have a label of a diagnosis put on them, for various reasons. However, some individuals would feel relieved to have a label put on to their symptoms. Therefore, I can see how it could be helpful but also potentially harmful, depending on the individual and how they react to the label.
I believe that my spiritual worldview plays a very important role on how I view pathology. One of the main reasons, I believe this, is because it influence my definition of pathology. As a Christian, I believe that sin is often the cause of an individual’s behavior. Therefore, I may not necessarily see something as a pathology, but as a result of sin in an individual’s life. However, I also believe in science, therefore, do believe that many times things are influenced by a biological problem, or other factors that may be causing the pathology such as a trauma in the individual’s life. Another way that my worldview affects my view of pathology, is the disorders that I would define as a pathology. There are some disorders in the DSM that I feel would not necessarily constitute as a pathology. However, there are others that were previously in the DSM that have been removed that I would count as a pathology, for example homosexuality. These opinions are based largely on the fact that I am a Christian, therefore causing my worldview to influence my opinions and thoughts on pathology, both as a whole, and as individual disorders. I believe that every individual’s culture plays an important role on how they view all aspects of the world. Therefore, my culture would influence what I would consider to be healthy or unhealthy. In my culture independence is not only encouraged, but considered abnormal when