Receiving a clinical diagnosis can sometimes feel like a turning point. For many patients, simply being told the name of a condition can bring immediate relief, even before any treatment begins. A new review article published in BJPsych Bulletin explores this phenomenon, proposing that the act of diagnosis itself can be therapeutic. The authors call this the “Rumpelstiltskin effect”—a reference to the power of naming in folklore—and argue that the medical community has largely overlooked this aspect of diagnosis as a distinct and potentially meaningful intervention.