Patient Not Diagnosis Statement Tee | The Label Lab

PATIENT NOT DIAGNOSIS.

I was diagnosed with mental illness at 17, so I’ve had a lot of years of people writing things down about me. Diagnoses, symptoms, medications, notes, codes, whatever was going on at the time.

Some of those labels helped me understand what was happening. Some didn’t. Either way, none of them ever explained the whole person.

That’s what this shirt is about.

The back looks like somebody tried to turn a person into a patient file — warnings, medical notes, redactions, graphics, all the clinical stuff that can make you feel more like something being studied than an actual human being.

And right in the middle of all of it is the part I care about: PATIENT NOT DIAGNOSIS.

Because yes, I have diagnoses. Yes, I have symptoms. Yes, I take medication. That’s part of my life.

It’s not every damn thing about me.

Sometimes something I’m doing is connected to my mental health. Sometimes I’m tired. Sometimes I’m spacing out. Sometimes I’m irritated. Sometimes I just don’t feel like dealing with anybody. Not every mood, reaction, or bad day needs to get turned into another symptom on a list.

That’s why this one belongs in The Label Lab. You can write down the symptoms without turning the person into the diagnosis.

The shirt is dark heather with a smaller clinical graphic on the front and the full distressed patient-file design across the back.

For anybody who has ever felt like people saw the label before they saw them.

PATIENT NOT DIAGNOSIS.