Rethinking Mental Health

Mental health is most often understood through the lens of diagnosis. Diagnoses were originally developed to explain mental health experiences by grouping and labeling common patterns. Over time, however, these labels have become largely inseparable from the experiences themselves. While this may suggest that diagnoses have fulfilled their intended purpose, we must ask an important question: are they, in a broader sense, truly helpful—or have they become a hindrance to meaningful mental healthcare?

Mental health diagnoses do serve a purpose. They provide a shared language that allows professionals to communicate clearly with one another. Yet, in practice, they now function as barriers to care in several significant ways.

First, insurance companies will not reimburse mental health services without a formal diagnosis, and even then, only specific diagnoses qualify for coverage. This means that when someone seeks help for internal distress related to a life transition or difficult decision, a provider must assign a diagnosis—often some form of anxiety—simply to secure payment. As a result, a common human experience of tension or uncertainty is transformed into a clinical label, attached to the person not because it best explains their experience, but because it is required.

Second, diagnosis contributes to stigma and discourages people from seeking help. When therapy is tied to labeling, individuals must first accept that something is “wrong” with them before they are permitted to receive care. Disclosing therapy to others is often met with judgment or curiosity, reinforcing the belief that therapy is reserved for those who are broken or deficient. We hear this sentiment reflected culturally in statements like, “So-and-so needs therapy,” implying that therapy is only for people with something fundamentally wrong.

Third, excessive labeling undermines the natural function of emotions, thoughts, and internal tension. Mental health struggles are often framed as malfunctions—chemical imbalances, distorted thinking, or pathological behavior—rather than meaningful signals. Depression, for example, is frequently treated as an enemy to eliminate rather than a form of communication pointing toward imbalance in one’s lifestyle, relationships, or sense of purpose. In this way, mental health experiences are not seen as informative or corrective, but as defects to suppress.

Finally, this framework separates personal struggle from personal support, disrupting the communal design God intended for us. Scripture tells us in Genesis that “it is not good for man to be alone,” emphasizing our need for relationship and community. Yet we have increasingly replaced personal support with professional intervention. While professional care has its place, many struggles that once would have been navigated through trusted relationships are now outsourced entirely. This separation is intensified by diagnosis. If Jenna is wrestling with tension about work, friends or family can naturally offer support and guidance. But if Jenna is struggling with “anxiety,” she is often perceived as needing a professional—someone qualified to treat a condition—rather than a community willing to walk with her.

So, What’s the Real Problem?

The problem is not mental health struggles themselves, but our relationship to them. Rather than continuing to treat mental health within a rigid diagnostic framework, we must reassess how we understand and engage with mental health altogether. While systemic change is limited by pharmaceutical and insurance interests, meaningful change begins at a personal and communal level—by rethinking how we conceptualize mental health.

Problematic Thinking

A symptom is a feature that indicates distress. A diagnosis identifies the nature of a problem by examining those symptoms. These concepts are not inherently flawed. Symptoms can point us toward deeper issues, and diagnosis can guide treatment.

The problem arises when diagnosis becomes the endpoint rather than the starting point. Too often, symptoms are assessed, a diagnosis is given, and the diagnosis itself is treated through standardized methods. This creates a form of circular reasoning: You experience anxiety, therefore you have anxiety; your anxiety is what causes your anxiety.

A more faithful application would sound like this: You experience symptoms consistent with anxiety; therefore, we identify anxiety—and now we must explore what is producing it. This requires a comprehensive assessment of one’s physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual life.

While many skilled and intentional clinicians do this work well, the dominant cultural message reflects the former approach. This is evident in how people speak about themselves: “That’s just my anxiety,” or “My OCD makes me do that.” Diagnoses have become authoritative rather than descriptive. The issue is not diagnosis itself, but how we relate to and rely upon it.

A New Way of Thinking

Mental health experiences are exactly that—experiences. They interact with us on physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual levels. Symptoms alert us to distress, and diagnoses help name patterns, but neither explains the origin of the struggle on its own. Healing requires a deeper exploration of personal experience.

Much of modern mental healthcare focuses on symptom management rather than origin. Psychotropic medications, for example, can reduce anxiety or depression, but they do not resolve the underlying cause. When the origin remains unaddressed, the problem often resurfaces with greater intensity. Effective care must begin with understanding where distress comes from—not merely how to quiet it.

A Relationship With Self

To do this, we must cultivate a relationship with ourselves that is reflective, attentive, and respectful. Like any relationship, this one can be neglected or fragmented. We may prioritize physical health while ignoring emotional or spiritual needs, or focus on emotional awareness while neglecting the body.

We are not separate quadrants, but one integrated being—spirit, body, mind, and heart. When someone struggles with anxiety, depression, or internal tension, it must be understood within the context of the whole person. Mental health struggles are not evidence that someone is broken or defective; they are a natural part of the human experience.

When we adopt this perspective, mental health becomes an extension of life rather than an error in it. We are invited back into community—into shared healing, guidance, and mutual care. We no longer have to pretend that struggle is abnormal or isolating.

A Call to Action

Rethink mental health. Consider your own struggles and ask whether they are truly so different from those of others. While the intensity and expression may vary, the core experience is shared. Healing was never meant to happen in isolation.

Join me in building community, restoring connection, and pursuing healing together at Faithful Surrender Counseling.

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God’s blessings,

Kaleb