unique..sure how each mental disorder affects a person can be vastly different...the diagnostics allow for that uniqueness by keeping the diagnostic criteria broad enough to allow a person to have other symptoms besides the diagnostics...

example DID a person with DID must have at least 2 or more categorical (the diagnostics use the word distinct) alternate personalities that control, have a special type of memory problem that goes beyond the normal type of memory problems and having these alternate personalities/memory problems isnt because of things like drugs and alcohol..

that leaves room for the uniqueness of someone who may have other symptoms too that.... not every person ....with DID has...anxiety, depression, nightmares, and other problems that may be unique...

..Undefined ..yes sometimes a person will have a problem that hasnt been labeled yet...All Im saying is that here in america treatment providers dont diagnose people with things that are not recognized mental disorders...treatment providers here in america have set rules/diagnostics they have to go by when diagnosing someone.

when they come across someone with symptoms that dont fit any mental disorders they look at other accompanying symptoms and match that person with the diagnosis that matches the majority of their symptoms.

any mental disorder thats not recognized (your word defined) by the american psychiatric association doesnt get put on the client...the treatment providers evaluate/test the individual then they match the persons symptoms with an already existing mental disorder..

this is one of the reasons why it can take years before someone gets the correct diagnosis...

example fibromyalgia wasnt a recognized problem here in america for a long time. it didnt exist, treatment providers could not diagnose something that didnt exist/wasnt defined. those that had this were diagnosed with other things that did exist/was defined like back aches, depression, leg aches, muscle spasms.. here in america its only been a few years that people have been getting the diagnosis label of fibromyalgia.

other countries may have other standards for diagnosing mental disorders america has set diagnostics and treatment providers go according to that.

I know its not a great system and because of it sometimes it takes years before someone gets the right diagnosis because their group of problems havent been defined yet so they get loppped in with diagnosis's that cover a majority of their symptoms not all of them.