Understanding true complexity of human nature

Understanding the context:

The human eye can distinguish about 10 million colours. Beyond the 11 basic colours we have named there are countless shades and variations to these colours. You get maroon, indigo, lilac, teal and so many more. It is really a testament to the beauty and complexity of the world we find ourselves in.

As a counsellor, a teacher, a friend, I have come to notice a trend in modern society where we label ourselves very readily. We seek to find an identity. Labels provide concrete ways of understanding who and what we are. For example, I said ‘I am a teacher’- these labels help us answer who we are on a tangible level. Maybe not on a deeper level but enough for us to understand who we are in relation to the world around us. There is no problem with identifying with labels. Labels are one of the most useful aspects of language. With one word, such as ‘Christian’ or ‘Hindu’ we are able to understand a great deal of who someone is. 

Psychology has become far less taboo in recent years. People are no longer hesitant to admit when they feel depressed. It has rightfully become a norm to talk about our feelings in a more concise way. 

Implications in the real world:

However, there is a huge difference to feeling depressed and being depressed. People over identify with their emotions making what should be a fleeting emotion turn into a permanent state. As a language teacher I like to emphasize to my students the power in language. Words can truly make or break realities. The way we say something, the exact words we use can build or break down worlds. Don Miguel Ruiz, in his book, The Four Agreements, talks about labels as casting spells. He illustrates his point through a short story; A mother comes home from work and is exhausted. Her young daughter is darting about the house singing at the top of her lungs. The mother in a moment of weakness shouts ‘stop it, you can’t sing’. This puts a spell on the young girl and she never attempts to sing passionately again. This blocks off her daughter’s possible talent. Now in life, we are told many things about ourselves. People have many moments of shortcomings. “You are lazy”, “You are stupid”, “You aren’t musical”, “You aren’t athletic”; These labels attributed to us in childhood become our self-limiting beliefs later in life. 

I have also noticed a trend of self-diagnosing and diagnosing others. When we are quick to attribute clinical labels of chronic conditions to everyday behaviours, it is as though we reduce our vision from seeing 10 million colours to seeing only the 5 primary colours. In truth human behaviour is far more complex than we can even begin to know. As I have researched this notion I have begun to see how complex this problem is in society, as well as how hard it is to talk about. 

Labelling, a psychological pandemic. Understanding the theory:

When it comes to human behaviour, there are 10 million reasons for why someone is behaving as they do. In most cases the behaviour has a series of external causes. For example, being tired because you had a long day is not the same as chronic burnout. Being depressed because you lost your job is not the same as chronic depression, it’s a natural reaction to life events. Mental disorders have internal causes related to gene expression, and is not to be confused with reactions to external causes. It is important to note recent findings that depression is not caused because of a lack of serotonin, this notion has been disproved: 

“The idea that depression is the result of abnormalities in brain chemicals, particularly serotonin , has been influential for decades, and provides an important justification for the use of antidepressants. A link between lowered serotonin and depression was first suggested in the 1960s,  and widely publicised from the 1990s with the advent of the Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants. Although it has been questioned more recently, the serotonin theory of depression remains influential, with principal English language textbooks still giving it qualified support, leading researchers endorsing it , and much empirical research based on it. Surveys suggest that 80% or more of the general public now believe it is established that depression is caused by a ‘chemical imbalance’. Many general practitioners also subscribe to this view and popular websites commonly cite the theory ……  This review suggests that the huge research effort based on the serotonin hypothesis has not produced convincing evidence of a biochemical basis to depression. This is consistent with research on many other biological markers. We suggest it is time to acknowledge that the serotonin theory of depression is not empirically substantiated” (Moncrieff, J., Cooper, R.E., Stockmann, T. et al. The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Mol Psychiatry 28, 3243–3256 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0). 

Concluding thoughts

There can be 10 million reasons for why someone feels or behaves in a certain way. Life and human beings are both very complex. Labeling people with chronic mental illnesses to explain behaviour is a one dimensional way of looking at the world. Labels are dangerous because they create limitations to growth and change. I invite you as the reader to become more open and receptive to the true complexity of life, and to see the beauty in that complexity. It is time we step back from reductionist thinking and limiting language patterns. 

For more on this idea, please check out my favourite Ted Talk of all time – Strange answers to the psychopath test, by Jon Ronson:

• Labelling, a psychological pandemic

• Labelling, a psychological pandemic

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