NEWSSociety's Refusal to Have Uncomfortable Conversations Drives Overdiagnosis of Mental Illness, Says Dr Tomi Mitchell
Dr Tomi Mitchell, founder of Holistic Wellness Strategies.
Sep. 20 2023, Published 5:53 a.m. ET
While there have been improvements in how society views mental health, there is still a long way to go. More people are aware about mental health concepts and are more willing to seek professional help, instead of “toughing it out” or attributing it to supernatural causes. However, individuals and professionals should be aware of overdiagnosing mental disorders, as it can have harmful effects, according to Dr Tomi Mitchell, physician and founder of wellness and coaching practice Holistic Wellness Strategies.
“I believe that we are making a tragic mistake as a society by mislabeling a symptom of life and calling it a mental health diagnosis,” she says. “Much of what we label as ‘depression’ is not a clinical disorder, but rather a natural human response to life's challenges, loss, pain, suffering, and uncertainty. We should stop diagnosing a life situation. The way to get rid of the stigma of mental health is to drop the diagnosis label, because most of the time, it’s not a chemical imbalance, but rather a result of trauma.”
According to Dr Tomi, the current medical system is flawed in its approach to mental health because it approaches depression as a checklist diagnosis , and it can be treated merely by prescribing medication. For example, many depression screening questions are asking whether the person felt sad or guilty over the past two weeks. She argues that these screenings do not take into account the context of the person’s life. They may have suffered the loss of a loved one recently, or their family is facing financial difficulties, or they are trapped in a toxic relationship, and the standardized screening questionnaires are unable to capture this. Dr Tomi says that feelings of sadness and grief are a normal human response to these challenging situations, and not indicative of clinical depression.
“Since I became a physician in 2008, I’ve been following the discussion about how depression is caused by a chemical imbalance and how antidepressants are the answer to it. That was the leading paradigm until the global pandemic which shattered that whole idea on a grand scale. Suddenly, countless people were contacting their physicians saying they’re depressed and they need a pill. But in reality, they were sad, angry, or hurt because of the life situation they were in at the moment. I felt the same at the time, but I came to terms that what I had was not a chemical imbalance. I had just reached that breaking point where I had no more bandwidth.”
According to Dr Tomi, over the years, she was so busy that she forgot to pause and take things off her plate, as well as evaluate what she wanted to do with her life. This is especially important for women, as our social realities and relationships can have incredibly huge impacts on our quality of life. The response to these realities could also manifest as physical symptoms, including nausea, fibromyalgia (chronic pain), headaches, elevated blood sugar, menstrual irregularities, and more.
In Dr Tomi’s case, while still prioritizing her health, she says it took several years for her to realize that it was having an unsupportive relationship, living and working in a toxic environment that greatly contributed to her burnout, which falsely made her believe that she had depression.
Looking at society's current situation, the growing awareness of mental health has had an unintended consequence, where people self-diagnose and overdiagnose because they don’t want to or feel like they are unable to holistically deal with the challenges of life and to engage in the uncomfortable, yet necessary, conversations they need to have with themselves and others.
In her practice at Holistic Wellness Strategies, Dr Tomi aims to challenge the way society views mental health and mental fitness by taking the whole person into account – physically, mentally, emotionally, financially, socially, and environmentally. She says that the standard 10-minute doctor’s appointment is insufficient, as the medical system merely tries to treat symptoms and not the root cause.
“We have to look at ourselves in the mirror – multiple mirrors, actually. These mirrors can come from within, as well as from people who can help us look objectively at our life. These include the triggers and the painful situations, often involving the people closest to us, and that's a very uncomfortable truth. Because, if you are in a toxic environment, you have to do something about it. And many people are not ready to face that.”
Dr Tomi says journaling is an important outlet for women to organize their thoughts and putting things on paper helps build self-awareness and brings clarity which many people lack. She also advises women to be mindful of their energy inputs and outputs, asking themselves whether they’ve taken the time lately to recharge and if they’ve allowed themselves to have fun as their genuine self.
“It’s also important to surround yourself with good people who will encourage you and tell you the truth. Take note of the five people you spend the most time with. If your best friend is a huge gossiper or a negative Nancy, they won’t bring good energy into your life. If you're just dousing out fires, the moment you try to do something good, all that negativity is going to bog you down. You really have to clear the clutter and then find the support, because you can't do this by yourself. All amazing athletes have a coach supporting them, and I believe everyone deserves to have someone like that in their corner,” Dr Tomi says.
