I work in a mental health/psychiatry-related profession so for me diagnoses do not carry personal discomfort but help define and name a phenomenon we are dealing with. Of course the mental health categories are often not as clear and steady as the diagnoses of most co-called physical illnesses, but I find them helpful also when they are applied to me, they help target a specific area of issues and can guide in problem solving. What I don't find too useful is generic statements such as someone is "mentally ill"... I think it's far too diffuse and not meaningful by itself, just like saying someone has a medical illness - too broad and it does not say anything about the nature of the problem, severity, whether it's something chronic and stable or transient, etc.

In spite of the above opinion, I do often use the term "mental illnesses" when I describe what I think the origin of most of my issues is: family heritage. Both lineages of my family have been packed with various mental health issues (psychotic disorders, depression, anxiety, addictions, to name a few), predispositions clearly run in these lineages (a great spectrum in terms of nature of problems and severity) and I believe it's what caused my challenges as well more than anything else (eg. I had a decent family of origin and no significant traumas in childhood other than some bullying from other kids). I've had eating disorders, substance addiction, depression, anxiety and am considered by most people who know me well a very unconventional person with thought and behavioral patterns that are different in many ways and cannot be easily categorized or linked to specific causes. From all this, only the anxiety and the unconventionality seem permanently present, these I've had as far as I remember but they have never been debilitating and my anxiety can be controlled quite well with drug-free approaches. The substance addiction (drinking) is what caused me the most trouble and when I was active in it, it brought out a ton of issues so that I really often felt like a walking psych ward and did not feel highly functioning at all even though my environment knew nothing about it. There were periods in that when I was intensely suicidal everyday, to the point it became sort of my normal and did not even register much anymore. Luckily, it's something that can be very successfully resolved by complete abstinence and while a lot of people like the concept of being "in recovery" for the rest of our lives, I don't like to see myself that way except the fact that abstinence for me will have to be life-long, which I don't mind at all at this point (of course it was extremely difficult initially).

So, in summary, I do find naming the issues helpful but I do not consider myself more mentally challenged than the average person, and I have a pretty good and fulfilling life without meds and constant professional care/treatment. I think it's best to follow the strategy that works for everyone to promote health and healing in a holistic way, i.e. if someone is bothered with mental health diagnoses and if the problem can be controlled with meds, therapy or whatever, it's probably better to move on than feeling damaged or flawed forever. On the other hand, if someone clearly has problems functioning but is in denial about the nature and severity of the problem, and perhaps how their issues affect others around, I think it can be helpful to put a name to it and raise awareness accordingly.