So, for what it's worth, I just wanted to clarify that my therapist didn't offer a definitive diagnosis either and she wasn't even remotely holding on to it as being correct etc.

She's watched me over the better part of 9 months go on rather endlessly about the guilt I feel (largely towards family but also others).

The guilt stems from believing (like Anglo said) that their behavior is 'normal' and I'm the one who's aberrant and hence, the guilt etc.

So, for a long time, she would simply try to point out how their behavior wasn't 'normal' but somehow it never sunk in (although I'd made progress in other ways).

Finally, recently (and I'm not sure what changed for her) she just came right out and said, 'It sounds like this person may have ABC (diagnosis from the DSM)' and here's why -- so, she'd earlier said that in fact my response of feeling endlessly guilty was / is typically how others feel around people with that particular diagnosis.

She was in no way rigid or certain or anything of that sort and she hemmed and hawed endlessly about even offering that opinion. And, even after offering it, she was hesitant and just said 'If this will help you etc...'.

So, she said that she was offering that opinion mostly so that I could look at the traits related to that diagnosis and make sense of my own life / story and most importantly, deal with my relationships in a more healthy way going forward.

So, a big part of this for my therapist I think was my feeling of being stuck in this endless loop of guilt. By the time she gave this suggestion, I think she'd tried just about every trick in the book, including doing something that she almost never does -- asking me to consider my experiences in light of what 'normal' means / what other 'normal' people usually do or feel etc.

Anyway, I'll quit the long-winded response just about here -- I just wanted to clarify given my original post to make sure that people don't get the wrong impression that somehow offering random diagnoses is the way to go