When I talked with my current therapist in one of our first sessions, I mentioned that a previous psychologist who I had been seeing right before, had mentioned a personality disorder (dependent). It wasn't a diagnosis really but it felt like it. I wanted to know what this T thought about 1) diagnoses/labels and 2) personality disorders. So I asked.

She said that a diagnosis can be helpful but isn't always and is mostly helpful for insurance purposes (she worked for an insurance company for 20 years). And she said it can change in the course of treatment, so how relevant is it anyway.

And more importantly, she said in response to the personality disorder symptoms, after a little chuckle "What ISN'T a personality disorder? The ways we have of dealing with things are part of our personality."

I liked that.