My Terrifying Thought - I'm Afraid a Therapist Will Tell Me I'm Crazy!

Countless times I’ve had clients tell me they thought they were crazy or they’ve been told by friends and family they’re crazy. Others have even asked me outright, “Does that make me crazy?”

In 2007, when I started practicing as a graduate school intern, I had no idea how many times I’d be confronted with concerns about people being “crazy”. Yet, it happened on an almost daily basis. The clients I worked with were genuinely concerned with being:

• Thought of as crazy

• Called crazy

• Diagnosed as crazy

  
  

And is it any wonder that this was one of their biggest fears? Etymonline.com lists “crazy” as an adjective, or describing word, that originated in the 1570s as a word for “diseased” or “sickly.” While this is no longer a true definition of the word, the definition assigned a decade later wasn’t much better. 

By the 1580s, society decided the word “craze” meant to be “broken, impaired, full of cracks or flaws”. When the letter ‘e’ was removed and the letter ‘y’ was added, it meant “deranged, demented, of unsound mind or behaving as so”. 

In short, to be called crazy meant someone had a sickly or diseased mind or behaved as if they had a sickly or diseased mind. 

The mid-1700s was no different as the definition transitioned to “mental unsoundness.” 

But can a person really be crazy? 

People say:

• You are driving me crazy.

• This (fill in the blank) is driving me crazy. 

• I’m going crazy.

• You are crazy for paying so much, getting another degree, quitting your job, etc. 
  

Mental health therapists utilize the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) to diagnose clients. The DSM has gone through several updates and is—at the time of this writing—in its 5^th rendition, DSM5-TR. (The -TR stands for textual rendition, meaning various diagnoses were updated with descriptive text for each disorder based on literature reviews.)

Do you want to know a secret?

There is no diagnosis of crazy! 

That’s right.

Nowhere in the DSM-5-TR does it say a person can be crazy. A person might feel crazy or believe their thoughts seem crazy or any other version of “crazy” based on how society uses the word. 

But your therapist cannot diagnose you as crazy. 

Going to therapy may be a big step for you. It might be a very scary step. Therapy may even be challenging. In my experience, it’s all of those things and more. Therapy can also be a healing journey. It can be a time of positive change and developing healthy habits that allow you to grow. 

If you believe therapy is right for you, I encourage you to go for it. You can find a therapist by searching Psychology Today or ZenCare or asking someone you know for a suggestion. 

Maybe you aren’t ready for a friend or loved one to know you are considering therapy. In that case, you can ask your primary care doctor or other healthcare provider for a recommendation. 

You can also contact the member services number on the back of your insurance card to see if a representative can help you find a therapist who accepts your insurance. 

Therapy may challenge you to become a stronger, healthier version of yourself. You might feel like you’re going crazy or worry that others will think you’re crazy for going to therapy. 

Just remember, there is no diagnosis of crazy. 

So, don’t let this worry be the one thing that stops you from making that call and scheduling your first appointment. 

Therapy Tip: It's okay to be nervous about going to therapy.