Grief gets an expiration date, just like us

I'd just like to clear up a misconception that people seem to have about mental healthcare. Getting a diagnosis isn't related to the 'severity' of the thing you're experiencing. But rather how you're dealing with it, and if it requires professional help to work through. Keyword being 'requires'.

Even if you grief a lot, if you're dealing with it yourself you will not get a diagnosis.

If grief makes you isolate yourself, stop working, start abusing alcohol or drugs, stop you from caring for you children, etc. Then there's a very real chance that this behavior could lead to more problems, making it in turn harder to regain positive mental health. In that case the person should get a diagnosis, which would then unlock treatment and therapy for them.

> The American Psychiatric Association describes “disordered grief,” also known as “prolonged grief,” as a loss that occurred at least one measly year ago for adults

Even though that might be true, it's an excellent example of why you can't just take the written word at face value if you're not well versed in the subject. In the mental health profession it's understood that everybody is going to be different from the norm. Only the treating psychologist can put the clients problem in the proper context to determine if a year is enough or not.

I know someone who was concerned about depression, and went to get checked. The diagnosis was normal. They were having an appropriate emotional response to very challenging situations.

Moreover, most diagnostic terms simply describe symptoms. "Pharyngitis" sounds scary, but it just means you have a sore throat. Why does it hurt? It could be many different reasons, but the term just describes what you're feeling, not the specific reason. Having a condition doesn't necessarily even mean anything is wrong with you. "Bradycardia" means having an abnormally low heart rate, which is common in trained athletes. As long as it's not extremely low, it's not a problem.