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I think it both matters and doesnt matter. It matters because very often we want a name for what is wrong with us and a doctor wants to know what direction to move in to treat us. With mental health since there are no physical tests- its sort of like looking at a group of symptoms and plugging them into various diagnosis's until you find one that is more likely than not that applies to you. Mental illness diagnosis is tricky and not text book and I know a lot of people get upset when they are given a wrong diagnosis or mixed messages (rightly so). I think where it might not matter is when the theories are very similar. Maybe finding out you have a schizophrenia or schizo-affective diagnosis isn't as important as treating them if the treatments are similar. And in many cases mental illnesses are so similar and "cross" over each others' lines. Bipolar I& II can seem very similar to one another in depressive symptoms but the mania part can feel very different. This is where a very thorough p-doc can come into play. I personally would be very wary of being given a diagnosis after 15 minutes with a p-doc that just met me. That is not to say a diagnosis after 15 minutes would be wrong its just that I believe more time to at least rule out other things can be helpful.
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