You don't need a diagnosis to come to therapy

One of the most common things people say in a first session is a version of: I know others have it worse. It usually arrives early, almost as an apology for taking up the hour.

A diagnosis is a description of a pattern, not a permission slip. Plenty of what brings people to therapy — a relationship that has gone quiet, a job that has hollowed out, a grief that never got spoken about — has no diagnostic name at all.

What matters is whether something in your life is asking for attention. If it is, that is enough of a reason to begin.