Depresh Mode with John Moe Is Your Mental Health Diagnosis an Identity or Something More Meaningless?
Nov 17, 2025
Join Sarah Fay, an author and mental health advocate, as she challenges the validity of mental health diagnoses and their impact on personal identity. Sarah shares her journey of being labeled with various disorders, revealing how these identities shaped her behavior and recovery path. She argues against the chemical imbalance theory and criticizes the DSM's labels, advocating for a focus on recovery rather than diagnosis. Through her experiences, she highlights the need for systemic change in mental health treatment and the importance of questioning labels.
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Early Label Became Self-Fulfilling Identity
- Sarah Fay recounts being labeled “anorexic” at 12 after family upheaval and an ER visit.
- That label shaped her identity and led her to learn anorexia behaviors from a novel and internalize the diagnosis.
Diagnoses Are Labels, Not Biological Proof
- Sarah argues psychiatric diagnoses are labels without objective, biological proof and can misrepresent suffering.
- She stresses diagnoses help communication but lack scientific validity and can worsen identification with illness.
Unknown Diagnosis Opened A New Path
- Sarah describes a psychiatrist who confessed, “I don't know what you have,” which liberated her to research diagnoses.
- That moment shifted her from accepting labels to investigating DSM history and problems.
