My pdoc has never offered me a med & not told me what it was for. (I'm no longer on any med's. Since going off Cymbalta a few years ago now, I've just routinely declined any med suggestions he has made.) I couldn't say if doctors ever hold out on a patient in order to not upset them. My pdoc has not done this. He has not, however, ever offered me any kind of diagnosis. I presume he doesn't feel it is worthwhile... perhaps due to my age?

I can't say as I've ever done extensive research into illnesses. There was a period of time a number of years ago now, when I was into reading books related to mental illness. I would go to the bookstore, look through the titles, find something that looked interesting, take it home, & read it. One of the books I read was: Lost in the Mirror which was on BPD. And, based on what I read in that book, I became convinced I could have been diagnosed as having it when I was young. (I've been told BPD tends to burn itself out as one ages. And I've definitely done that.)

I don't think that recognizing symptoms within yourself in your research makes you a hypochondriac. All mental health diagnoses share different individual symptoms. It's the way in which these various symptoms are grouped that makes one diagnosis different from another. So I think it makes sense that one would recognize aspects of oneself within a variety of different mental health diagnoses.

I recall, several years ago, watching a YouTube video posted by a young woman who had schizophrenia. As she discussed each of her symptoms, I found that I could relate to every single one except that she experienced some visual hallucinations which I do not. So she gets a diagnosis of schizophrenia & I get, or would get, something else... presumably... headscratch:

I recall many years ago now when I was in college, in a psychology course I was taking, the professor said that mental illnesses are just more extreme examples of experiences everyone has. So, for example, I'm quite security conscious. As a result, I check the locks on our doors regularly. But were I to begin doing so to the point where it began to interfere with my day-to-day life, then I might be diagnosed as having OCD. Does that make sense? At least that's the way I look at it.