Hi
It sounds like you are fairly clear about what you need to do to support you.
I think diagnoses just reflect a cluster of symptoms, nothing more, nothing less. To some extent I don't agree with solid/fixed labels. And many illness have symptoms which overlap.
Take my favourite hobby horse PTSD and Trauma- the symptoms of this (chronic hyper and hypo arousal) are almost exactly the same as Bi-polar mania and depressive phases . I think depression can foster anxiety and vice versa or repressed anger can manifest as depression or shame can manifest as agoraphobia? And my symptoms change, sometimes I am more anxious/phobic, while other times I am depressed or hyper. If I fill out a tick box psych assessment the score would vary from one day to the next. Hope this makes some sort of sense.
So how I use labels is to look at what symptoms I have eg currently phobia and anxiety and try to reduce the impact of these. Sometimes a diagnosis can be useful in identifying which type of help or strategy will work eg with autism- visual clues are sometimes better than talking/giving directions whereas if someone is psychotic or suicidal than perhaps hospitalizations for safety is best intervention. I really do think psychiatry is still experimental to some degree and has not really got a handle on mental illness.
i like to work with a counsellor not too caught up in diagnosis, who are aware of diagnosis and symptoms etc but are more interested in seeing me as a person and my life as a whole, not as an illness or a deficit, but a counsellor who supports my process as a normal part of life and growth.
Phew I went on a bit of a rant then- so will stop now.
Regards jodie
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