In the late 80s I noticed that I was mentally unwell. One day I went to library and they had some brochures on different forms of mental illnesses. I took one a

In the late 80s I noticed that I was mentally unwell. One day I went to library and they had some brochures on different forms of mental illnesses. I took one about schizophrenia and matched a symptom or two and assumed I was schizophrenic but I wasn't. I was young and had no guidance. It took over a year for me to realise that I wasn't schizophrenic. Labels can be useful if you actually understand what they mean but most people have no training to do so. It would be better if we focused on symptoms that negatively impact people's lives than illness labels.