Illness Identity

Let’s talk about a concept called illness identity.This occurs when a problem or illness overwhelmingly dominates one’s life becoming a preoccupation. This can happen with pain or medical disorders, mental health conditions or anything we struggle to deal with. It can also be seen when someone’s job or role becomes their identity, rather than it being a part of their life.

When we are mentally healthy, our identity is made up of many things, not one. It is seen in how we manage problems, the values that we embrace, the qualities about ourselves (both positive and negative) that we see and the quality of our relationships.

Don’t let your identity be based on one thing. Never let your identity be problem based.

Here are examples:

• Rooted in illness or disorder (depression, anxiety, low self esteem, anger, substance abuse)

• A role that you play (mother, husband, work title, political or religious affiliation, etc).

• A personality type (laid back, type A, disorganized, intellectual ability, etc)

• Justifying with a label (such as telling yourself you have imposter syndrome)

We are many things. Growing means that you are always working toward improvement. There is no room in a secure mindset for problem identity. Strive to see yourself in a healthy way today, seeing opportunities for improvement without all the self criticism.