Ha. Yes, I suppose I'm a "functional" depressive / sufferer of anxiety disorder.
You're quite right - a great many elements of human experience lie on a continuum.
IMO labels can be problematic, particularly when they are casually co-opted (NOT talking about you, here - talking about the "disorder of the day" types.) On the other hand, they can be very freeing. "I'm on the autistic spectrum" is a lot more useful than "I don't know how people interact with others - I can't seem to make it work"; and "I suffer from anxiety" is more useful than "sometimes I think I'm going to die and I don't know why". Especially for those of us who like to pigeonhole things ;-)
no subject
You're quite right - a great many elements of human experience lie on a continuum.
IMO labels can be problematic, particularly when they are casually co-opted (NOT talking about you, here - talking about the "disorder of the day" types.) On the other hand, they can be very freeing. "I'm on the autistic spectrum" is a lot more useful than "I don't know how people interact with others - I can't seem to make it work"; and "I suffer from anxiety" is more useful than "sometimes I think I'm going to die and I don't know why". Especially for those of us who like to pigeonhole things ;-)