Thanks for all your replies!

In my own case, the Dx's were actually helpful for me in a practical sense; they allowed me to get the help I needed at the time without much hassle from insurance companies. I find this to be true also with my clients; without the Dx's, Medicaid and Medicare Part D don't want to pay squat toward medicines my clients need simply to function on a daily basis. The Dx's also help us formulate good treatment/behavior/crisis plans for them.

About 8 years ago when I was diagnosed bipolar and borderline, I needed anti-psychotics and mood stabilizers just to get me to the place I could function enough to go through therapy. These meds would have been harder for the Pdoc to prescribe without the Dx's...they usually aren't prescribed for anxiety and depression. Do I think I have these disorders? No...I have some borderline traits, but the unhealthy situations I had placed myself in at the time caused me to act as if I did. To a Pdoc seeing me for the first time, I looked bipolar and borderline. Once I got out from under the unhealthy situations and made progress in therapy, I no longer needed either mood stabilizers or anti-psychotics. Therefore, the Dx's dropped off.

That being said, my T hates diagnostic labels. She doesn't even have me Dx'd with GAD, OCD, or depression, all of which I know I have. My Dx with her is adjustment disorder. She said she uses that for almost everyone because other Dx's are stigmatic.

My final word is this: Dx's, just like almost anything else in life, are fluid. A Type II diabetic on insulin can (but not always) eat healthier, exercise, and lose weight and have his/her diabetes symptoms abate. I look at therapy similarly; as kind of a "health plan for the mind."

Feel free to disagree! Just one gal's humble opinion.