Being single isnt a disorder

American culture has developed a curious habit of turning ordinary life into pathology.Shyness becomes social anxiety.

Stress is labeled trauma.Sadness is quickly upgraded to depression.And now — right in time for Valentine’s Day — being single has joined the list. Being single isn’t a diagnosis.

It’s just a relationship status.Single people are often treated as if they’re suffering from a condition that requires attention.Friends worry.

Family members whisper.Acquaintances try to help.The media inundate them with “advice” and “dating tips” in the leadup to Feb.

14 — even countless “Singles’ survival guides to Valentine’s Day.”There are books, experts, podcasts, dating shows and entire industries devoted to fixing what is assumed to be broken.Except nothing is broken.Being single is not a disorder.It is not evidence of emotional deficiency.

Yet the assumptions come fast.If someone remains single long enough, curiosity turns into concern.

The question quietly shifts from “Are you happy?” to “What’s wrong?”We would never think to ask married people why they’re married.But asking single people why they’re single has become socially acceptable, often disguised as concern.Singlehood is no longer treated as a neutral life circumstance.

It’s seen as temporary at best and suspicious at worst.The longer it lasts, the more pressure builds to interpret it psychologically.Normal delays get recast as internal flaws.This shift is usually framed as empathy.

In reality, it reflects a deeper discomfort with uncertainty.Lives that don’t unfold on schedule make people uneasy.

What once passed as timing now demands scrutiny.None of this denies the value of romantic partnership.Marriage, family and long-term commitment matter.

They offer companionship, stability and love.But valuing relationships doesn’t require treating those without them as problems in need of solving.In my clinical work, I see how subtly this mindset take...