Receiving a Mental Health Diagnosis as an Adult

Getting an official diagnosis as an adult can bring up many emotions. Putting a name to your experiences is a fantastic starting point to better mental health, that doesn’t mean it’s not tough to hear! You may have a combination of these emotions:

Relief: You finally understand why you’ve been feeling this way, and have a clearer path towards doing something about it. This can be quite validating. 

Grief: It’s totally okay to mourn the period before you were diagnosed. 

Anger: Feeling upset to the point of anger about the diagnosis is completely normal. 

Scared: Depending on what you’ve heard about the mental illness, it may feel that it will be difficult to feel better. Remember that a diagnosis doesn’t mean you’re doomed, it means you (and those helping you) have a better understanding of how to help you. 

Happy: That the process is starting. 

Sad: That you have to deal with this mental illness. 

Anything else you feel is totally valid and normal as you absorb the new information. 

So how do you deal with all these conflicting emotions? 

Give yourself grace. It’s a lot to digest, and you need time to absorb it all. Allow yourself to feel whatever comes up. It may help to journal, talk to a friend or go for a walk to work through the emotions.

Make a plan, when you’re ready. It can help to bring your focus back to what you’ll do about the issue, to consider how you move forward. This can get rid of some of that hopelessness or grief. 

Do some research. Understanding your mental illness (or anything) makes it less scary. Talk to your psychologist, doctor, or psychiatrist about what it actually entails, as well as all your treatment options. If you’re not quite sure where to start, here are some questions to ask:

• What are the common symptoms of this disorder?
• Which of these did I display?
• How severe is my disorder? 
• What are the usual causes? (This may be tough to answer, as it’s typically a combination of genetic, environmental and social factors). 
• What therapies are available?
• What medications are available?
• What are the general outcomes with treatment?

It may be useful to write these down, along with the answers to your questions. When taking in an overwhelming amount of emotionally-charged info, it’s easy to forget some of what you were told. 

If you’re overwhelmed or not sure how to move forward, book a free consultation with one of our counsellors for some more information regarding next steps.