Quote:
Originally Posted by greenidentity
I guess I probably wasnt clear about my "T". She is actually a Psy.D. I get confused aboutthe differences....
What you told me was very informative...I'm slightly confused about how I can get a dx, but I will talk to her again next time we meet. To me it is important to get a dx, otherwise I feel like I'm just a bad person who cannot be helped. It's my worst fear!! That I just really suck, and don't deserve to be happy or be dx with anything, because relly I'm just terrible to the core. 
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Ah, well if she is a Psy.D., then she may be able to give you a dx. I don't believe you when you say you're terrible to the core. I've read books on various people, especially serial killers and psychopaths, and currently doing a paper for abnormal psychology from the book Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of Psychopaths Amoung Us by Dr. Robert Hare. Many of the people in that book and other books I still don't consider to be terrible to the core.
Getting a dx is important because without knowing what it is, how can you plan to get it treated? Not having a dx though doesn't make you a bad person. Dx's take time and effort from both you and the doctors.
What you can try to do, and I'm assuming you're somewhere in North America (you exact location in it I don't really care about) but most would use the DSM-IV-TR (or possibly only DSM-IV-R or DSM-IV but the TR is I believe the newest). Anyways, the DSM-IV uses a multi-axial diagnostic criteria, so next time you see her, ask her what your multi-axial diagnosis is. I would explain it to you but there's a fairly decent chance that I'll turn it into a novel on here and bore you to sleep, especially after studying and reviewing for an abnormal psych test for 2nd year university.
I am not sure if we are allowed to post links or not, but in case we are not allowed, here is a quick and dirty summary of the 5 axis:
Axis I - Non-chronic clinical disorders
Axis II - Personality disorders, mental retardation, etc...
Axis III - Medical conditions and any physiological disorders
Axis IV - Living environment that can affect the disorder(s)
Axis V - Global Assessment of Function (GAF) Scale, from 1 to 100. The lower it is, the more assistance or greater disability/dysfunction the disorder causes.
Ask her for that (the multi-axial) dx. Also, although I've never got my paws on one, a report she makes about you. The 2 current psychiatrists will let me see what their report is after I get the personality tests (waiting for the lazy guy to phone still).