Quote:
Originally Posted by TheatreKid
... You'd need other symptoms of mania to be diagnosable as manic. Things like racing thoughts, decreased need for sleep, impulsivity, recklessness, inflated self esteem, grandiosity... this is the DSM IV diagnostic criteria for a manic episode: DSM IV Criteria for Manic Episode (I couldn't find the DSM V)...
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I think TheatreKid makes a good point here. It's important to remember that diagnoses are based on a
bunch of symptoms. Even if someone has a symptom or two that fall under a given diagnosis doesn't mean they have that particular disorder. Diagnoses are based both on meeting a given threshold number of symptoms as well as the extent of their negative impact upon one's functioning. Granted, not every person diagnosed with something is going to have
every single symptom listed for a given condition, but they're going to have quite a number of them(!) (At minimum the number required for a given dx.) As others have pointed out, there are quite a number of symptoms that are found listed under various diagnoses. Anxiety is a great example. It's an element in SO many disorders. It's in taking a solid history, looking at the bigger picture and seeing what other symptoms might be present and context that the most accurate diagnoses will happen.
(The context thing comes to mind because if someone actually did experience some of those things --IRL not just in their mind -- they would be very likely to have a heightened sense of fear of them, possibly even waaay out of proportion to likelihood. It's context. If one were living in a war-torn country, a pervasive fear of bombing could be considered reasonable. In a peaceful place… not so much…)
I agree with the others about getting another opinion. If they're quick to jump to a conclusion based on very little information, keep looking. Good luck!