most of psychiatry is arbitrary... remember that folks. It's opinion based... only a very limited number of diagnoses have criteria/symptoms that can be measured or tested. Anyone can walk into a pdoc's office and say they hear voices and boom - you get a dx of schizophrenia or similar. Think about that for a second.. how many docs are taking the extra time to assertain whether the patient hears auditory hallucinations that appear external to them, or if they think they are hearing internal voices, or whether they have an medical anxiety disorder or munchausen(sp?) in which they are confusing the normal internal dialogue we ALL have with some kind of psychosis?

it is disturbing that the area of medicine with the least amount of diagnostic testing available to it is also the most likely to jump to conclusions... *sigh

and no offense meant... just saying that in the instance of mental health problems, one needs to be more vigilant over the diagnosis. Question everything and educate one's self.

no one should be changing a patient's diagnosis on the basis of insurance... that is fraud and malpractice. The diagnosis IS whatever it is... and changes can affect treatment and future medical decisions.