Living with a Label: An Exploration About Why We Categorize and the Need to Understand the Experience of Children with a Psychological Label
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Authors
Makowecki, Heather
Issue Date
2025-09-30
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
psychological diagnosis , labels , subjective experience , living with ADHD , evolutionary roots of categorization , nature of mental illness
Alternative Title
Abstract
Human beings have arrived in our modern world through a rich evolutionary history spanning millions of years. Using an evolutionary psychological lens, humans categorize our world and fellow humans due to our need to survive in cooperative groups. Since the Industrial Revolution, the human world has changed dramatically. Instead of living in smaller groups, we now exist together in an integrated global economy built on the need for constant economic growth and technological progression. This manuscript builds on these two concepts and explores the nature of mental illness from the perspective that "normal" and "abnormal" behaviour are not proven truths but are defined by the values and goals of the societies in which they occur. In addition, our scientific ways of understanding human behaviour are inescapably enmeshed in these values. This means that it is impossible to analyze and categorize human behaviour objectively. The labels we assign to other humans are not scientific truths, but interpretations of humanity based on the social constructs of the modern world. Knowing this, we must seek to understand how psychological labels affect people’s sense of who they are and consider not only if we can apply a label to another person, but whether we should.