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Originally Posted by melissa.recovering
Don't quote me on this, because I am DEFINITELY not a professional...
But I don't think a therapist can provide an official diagnosis, because they are technically not doctors. They do not have their doctorate degrees.
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Medical degrees, not doctorates - they're quite different! Psychologists are usually PhDs, psychiatrists are MDs. (Doctor of Philosophy vs Doctor of Medicine)
Quote:
Originally Posted by melissa.recovering
I think that both psychologists and psychiatrists can provide diagnoses. I had a psychologist give me a full evaluation and then diagnose me after. I have also had psychiatrists diagnose me after a shorter period of time, like you experienced.
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I've had several psychologists give a "tentative" diagnosis and in the same breath, told me that I had to see a psychiatrist to get an "official" diagnosis and proper treatment. But I've heard that it might vary by where you are. And of course, dx's like these are not hard and fast - different mental health professionals will come up with different dx's. There are a lot of similarities between bipolar and borderline, so that's a common back-and-forth dx for some people.
In actuality, I see an RPA-C who works with a psychiatrist, but it was a pretty clear-cut case for evaluation after having 4 other independent opinions in under a year all agree that I'm bipolar.