Commentary: Are we over-pathologising young people's mental health? Locked inside our own building - on disorderism and the need to deflate our language

Abstract

At its core, pathologising is choosing the language of pathology to describe suffering. In youth mental health, the prevailing choice is to use diagnostic labels such as ADHD and autism when describing the problems young people face. A key, yet poorly visible risk of such diagnostic labelling is disorderism - a relative neglect of context introduced by the tendency to interpret peoples struggles through the lens of disorders of the individual. At the same time, diagnostic labels serve important functions. Among others, they help families access care and find information, allow researchers to compare findings, and aid policymakers organise funding. Put simply, the functions are too valuable to outright discard, yet the risks too great to ignore. We find ourselves stuck - locked inside our own language. We argue that a path forward lies in recognising the primary way diagnostic labels may cause harm: by sidelining other forms of understanding. Rather than reimagining the labels entirely, a way out of the deadlock could involve profound epistemic humility. If we deflate the labels - removing weight and certainty - we create space for other kinds of understanding.

Keywords: Disorderism; decontextualisation; diagnostic labels; language; pathologising.