Some people think that coming up with a psych diagnosis is pretty straightforward. You open up the DSM and look at the criteria listed for any given diagnosis. If you can check off a certain minimum number of criteria, then the diagnosis applies. That's a half-baked understanding of how to diagnose. But that's what a lot of psych clients and therapists believe. Doctors are trained (and have demonstrated the capacity) to think more deeply. (Not that they always get things right either.) If meeting criteria were all that there is to it, then we could program computers to do the diagnosing. It's not that mechanical. There is much subjective appraisal involved, or there should be.

If you haven't seen a psychiatrist yet, I think you should. Even a doctor may not be able to say conclusively that you have this or that diagnosis. What the doctor comes up with is a provisional diagnosis, subject to revision. Additionally, the psychiatrist will assess whether you have symptoms that are causing you distress that might be helped by a drug.

A doctor does not have to have a firm idea of a diagnosis before ordering medication. Meds are ordered to treat symptoms. Sometimes symptoms can be more obvious than what is causing them. Sometimes a doctor gets clues about what the diagnosis should be after seeing what medication relieves some symptoms.

Therapists really have zero business in recommending what medications a client should try. I've never met a psychiatrist who had any interest in what drugs a therapist was recommending. There are good reasons for that.

Therapists should stick to therapy. Therapy is not about analyzing what diagnosis you should have and what led to you developing a specific psychiatric disorder. Therapy is not about making big predictions. Therapy sure isn't about psychoanalysing the members of your family or someone you were in a relationship with. Therapy is about asking two big questions: "What kind of difficulty are you having in living your life?" and "What can you do to have a better life?" People usually have more options than they realize. That's something a therapist can help you look at.

Getting a psych diagnosis often is nowhere near as important as a person might believe. Often, coming up with a diagnosis doesn't really tell you what will help solve the problems you are having.