The labelling perspective points to the role that services may play in identifying people as
deviant, and helps to explain why people may be reluctant to put themselves in that
position. But it would be a mistake to overestimate its importance: in the case of mental
illness, the evidence is that it is the behaviour of mentally ill people, not the label, which is
the main factor leading to social rejection (see Segal, 1978, p.213).