I swallowed my fears and booked an appointment with my family doctor, finally, after much hesitation. I can't go until September 3rd, so there's about two, three weeks right there.

My doctor is efficient, when I had to have an MRI she referred me to a place with month-long wait times instead of three to six month wait times. So I'm thinking she can probably refer me to a therapist or psychiatrist within the same time-frame, and hopefully a respectable one.

But once I do start talking to a psychiatrist, is there an average length of time it takes to receive a diagnosis for BPD, bipolar, or a related illness? Like, will I be hopping from doctor to doctor for three years like I keep imagining, or will it be a few months, a few weeks, or just a couple of sessions?

Or does it really depend on the patient and the doctor?

I know some people say it's taken years to be diagnosed with BPD, but if I go in, fully prepared for it with plenty of research on various mental illnesses, would it still take years in which they think I'm bipolar or this or that, and then have some sort of epiphany and slap a BPD label on my head?

I'm only asking because I'm dreading spending years in therapy. Pot was working just fine but it's expensive, it's illegal, and I'm aware it can cause as many problems as it appears to resolve.