Now I don’t want to sit here and preach the value of labels; lord knows that living in a society that seeks to pigeonhole and marginalise people based on their objective differences has so far yielded naught but misery and conflict. But in this particular situation, being able to identify and categorise whatever dysfunctional pursuit that my mind is engaging in has enabled me to put it aside and refocus my energies. Before, when people told me to “just think about something else”, I couldn’t understand what they meant, such was the potency of my ritualistic obsessing; if only it were that simple. Now, however, I am able to say, “Oh, that’s just the ol’ OCD again”, allowing me to disengage from said thought for long enough to starve it of life. And I am not alone in this. According to Miranda Boal, a psychologist and founder of Skylark Therapy in London, “a label can help to shine a light to guide both client and therapist out of the labyrinth, and find ways of coping along the route.” Delivered compassionately, a diagnosis can enable a patient to “recognise that the problem is the illness and not them,” allowing them to be “more forgiving and accepting of themselves.”