[Overcoming OCD]

Hello! I'm 21, and over the summer I was (finally) diagnosed with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. Before that, in high school, I was diagnosed with "anxiety," and I assume that must have meant generalized anxiety disorder.

So my question... Do (or is it possible) I still have generalized anxiety disorder, or does this mean my diagnosis was "clarified" to be OCD? Once you're diagnosed with something, do you maintain the diagnosis, or do you have to be re-diagnosed for it to be technically true?

My OCD has overrided lately, but I still experience some miscellaneous non-OCD anxiety symptoms, like social anxiety or general paranoias.

Anyhoo, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[sideblinded]

Hello Overcoming OCD

You ask some unique questions here. I don't think that it is necessarily true that if you get diagnosed with a disorder that it cancels out the previous one. Diagnoses can be stacked (meaning they are just added to your record) or a clinician can decide that the previous diagnosis was not correct. Clarification would need to be obtained from your treatment providers. It is very possible that you have generalized anxiety disorder or transient anxiety. Only your provider knows unless you ask them. Diagnoses can be deleted from your record. I had a misdiagnosis and it was eventually deleted from my record. So you could have all of the above, some of the above or the last one diagnosed. Just ask your provider for clarification as anything goes these days. Hope this helps.