I'm more inclined to see a dx as a way to for the medical community to facilitate treatment--that is: which medications are likely to help, which kinds of therapies.

So, having a diagnosis is very helpful for me as it was the only way to come to the best treatment practices we know of for the condition(s).

However, I keep these ideas in mind, too: in a book called Perspectives of Psychiatry, the authors, McHugh and Slavney, identify four approaches to a suffering person. The first of the four seeks to identify disease--or, what the person has. The second seeks to identify a person's dimension, or who s/he is. The third focuses on behavior, or what the person does. The fourth, the one I value most, seeks a holistic understanding of what patients want and what they become.

The last one is oh, so hard: look at the volition involved: want and become....things I have agency in....

The life story that is what I hope for. When the helping professions knows what to DO to help us (which is what the dx is for--for their guidance), then they can support me while I try get what I want and need--that is, peace, meaning, relief from psychic pain, relationships.

The surgeon general's criteria for mental health are: "the successful performance of mental function, resulting in productive activities, fulfilling relationships with other people, and the ability to adapt to change and to cope with adversity." That's what my doctors are trying to help me toward. It's what I think I want. (Although...there are days .....)

Mostly, it was worse when I didn't seek help and when I hadn't been diagnosed. Far worse--especially since I had taken on the responsibility of having children.