I do and don’t have a diagnosis. I’ve received a slew of diagnoses throughout my life. Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Persistent Depressive Disorder, Bipolar I, Major Depressive Disorder, and CPTSD. Though the last one isn’t an actual diagnosis since it’s not recognized by the DSM-V.

For me the diagnosis is important in the sense that I want to use that information to help guide my treatment. I’m in a place where I’m questioning whether or not I should be taking any kind of psychotropic medications, which would for me depend on my actual diagnosis. No one clinician or psychiatrist has diagnosed me with the same thing, so I don’t put a lot of stock into what labels are applied to me.

I think diagnosis is very subjective and often inaccurate, but they serve a necessary evil. For instance, I believe that I am at least close to being able to clinically diagnose as Borderline Personality Disorder. That label doesn’t change me, but empirical evidence shows that DBT may help to reduce my symptoms. Or if I’m Bipolar then I might should be on lithium.

So overall I support diagnoses but have no real idea what’s wrong with me. No one seems to.