Accepting your diagnosis

Accepting your diagnosis can be the first step to recovery. Acceptance can lead to an understanding of the value of ongoing treatment, which in turn improves the chances of recovery. Such beliefs can help you to stick to taking your medication.
As with many other physical conditions, it can take time to come to terms with being diagnosed as having a mental illness. You may feel scared about what it means for you now and for your future, what you are going to go through, whether you are going to get better; or even angry that this is happening to you.

Many people describe the way that getting more information about the condition, and talking to others who are in a similar situation, can help alleviate some of this fear. There are many resources for getting information about a mental health problem; there are established charities and support organisations for many of the major mental health conditions, you can talk to your GP or psychiatrist, and the internet has a wide range of information sites. Do be careful to make sure your information comes from credible sources, such as the organisations listed in the useful contacts sections on this site.

You might find learning more about your diagnosis can allow you to recognise signs of relapse which will help you to get help early, thereby preventing sometimes traumatic hospital admissions.

If you do not accept your diagnosis

You may accept that something is wrong but do not agree with the diagnosis you have been given by a doctor. There are no actual tests that can be done to diagnose mental illnesses, and at times diagnoses can be wrong.
  • There are many reasons why you may not believe your diagnosis. This could be because…
  • You don't think you have a mental illness or that there is anything wrong with you
  • You think the diagnosis is wrong and you have may have a mental illness but not the diagnosis you have been given

It can help by finding out a bit about the mental illness you have been diagnosed with and discuss your condition with someone you trust. It can also help by talking to someone with the condition that you have been diagnosed with. If you still feel that your diagnosis is incorrect you could ask your psychiatrist or doctor about Getting a second opinion.

I haven't got a mental illness…

There are many reasons for not being able to accept that you have a mental illness.

  • You may feel that the doctor has medicalised how you feel and that the difficulties you are having are due to going through a stressful time and not necessarily down to a mental illness.
  • You may not want to accept that you have a mental illness because of the stigma linked with the diagnosis, or because of things about the illness that you may have heard from others or through the media and press. See Stigma & Mental Illness 
  • Finally, some people cannot accept that they have a mental illness because they have no insight (awareness) into their illness. This means that while they might be quite ill and behaving in a way that is different to normal, because of their illness they may still believe that there is nothing wrong and that they are acting rationally.