You Are Not a Diagnosis

In a world where more and more of life is being diagnosed as disordered, this book invites us to pause, think critically and remember that distress is not an illness, and that too often diagnostic labels obscure our deeply human stories of pain, adversity, meaning and healing – Jo Watson, AD4E
A caring and careful corrective. Tanya Byron insists with Freud that ordinary unhappinesses are what make us human while inviting us into the psychologists’ craft, scholarship and understandings to provide a clarifying, compassionate and comprehensive account about the work of doing psychotherapy. – Susie Orbach
Everything Professor Tanya says is sparkling and brilliant and full of insight. This is an important book and I inhaled it. – Claudia Winkleman
A hard-hitting and important book, full of humanity and warmth in its exploration of topics which all of us - young and old - need to understand. – Julia Samuel, bestselling author and psychotherapist
You can feel broken without being broken. Tanya Byron has written a wise, compassionate and deeply necessary book for a world that has learned to label pain faster than it learns to listen to it. – Simon Gilham, author of STOP LYING TO YOURSELF
Drawing on thirty years of clinical practice and her own experience of misreading grief as depression, in this fascinating new book, Byron separates mental illness from the ordinary pain and suffering that comes with being human. Challenging the growing culture of social media self-diagnosis, she offers a compassionate guide to rebuilding our resilience and recovering the art of therapeutic conversation. – Professor Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Chair of Psychology, Cambridge University
You Are Not a Diagnosis is a timely and thought-provoking book. Tanya Byron explores our growing reliance on diagnostic labels with compassion and examines both the benefits and the limitations of diagnosis. At a time of soaring demand for mental health support and ever-lengthening waiting lists, she asks vital questions about what’s normal human pain and distress and what is a mental health condition. Above all, she challenges us to humanise mental health, while offering practical ways to navigate emotional distress. A fascinating and much-needed guide. – Deborah Cohen

Professor Tanya Byron is a consultant clinical psychologist with over thirty years’ experience working with children, adolescents, families, and adults. She is also a bestselling author whose books include The Skeleton Cupboard: The Making of a Clinical Psychologist.

Widely recognized for her ability to bring psychological insight to the public with nuance and clarity, she has advised national and international governments on mental health and digital safety. She writes an acclaimed weekly column for The Times and fronts numerous BBC programmes on parenting, child development, mental health, behavioural issues, and psychology.

Her work combines clinical expertise, storytelling, and a fierce commitment to making the realities of mental health better understood and more compassionately supported.

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