Short answer: they're real, they're medical, and they're not usually worn on hats.
The International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision. It's the code system clinicians and insurance companies use. F43.12 is "Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Chronic." F90.2 is "ADHD, Combined Type." G47.00 is "Insomnia, Unspecified."
The names are stiff on purpose — they're for paperwork, not for people. You already know what yours means.
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, fifth edition. The American psychiatric community's book for what each diagnosis actually is: the criteria, the differential, the bits that distinguish one code from the one next to it.
The criteria are technical. The lived experience is not.
Why we exist
At 14, I quit school and started therapy.
At 19, I was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder.
At 24, I kicked heroin and cocaine and quit drinking.
6/7 years later, I finally gave up my beloved tobacco.
In 2025, after more than 30 years in recovery, I received a late-in-life adult diagnosis of ADHD, Autism, and C-PTSD. I've got the gray beard and thinning hair to prove it. Not an easy pill to swallow… even for an experienced pill-swallower.
Mental health is health, and I wanted to do my part to help destigmatize it. Owning my diagnoses.
I didn't need one ICD-10-coded hat.
I needed a wardrobe full.
That's why our designs embrace color, texture, humor, and imperfection — without leaning into stereotypes or labels that feel limiting or exclusionary.
You don't have "something wrong" with you.
You have something real.
— Dave Buchwald, Founder
Human. Husband. Dad of two children, two cats, and a dog.
Wear one on a shirt. Made for the people who'd live in a knit hat if the weather let them.
Know your code?
Browse the A–Z index of diagnoses →