[poptardqueen]

I recently returned from an inpatient stay at the hospital for a week, and on my discharge papers my main diagnosis is "Depression NOS" Now I know the NOS means'not otherwise specified' but I still don't understand what this means. I know that I've been told I had major depression before, amongst many other things such as panic disorder, social anxiety, dissassociation, and an avoident and borderline personality and blah blahblah. What does this specific diagnosis mean?

[dexter]

from what i see on the web the NOS means that they have diagnosed depression but it doesn't fit into one of the regular categories of depression. the diagnosis codes are very specific and for depression, i found these categories on the web for diagnosis codes that hospitals use:

<font size=1><ul>[*]Atypical Depression ( Clinical term )
Depression in persons who have an ability to cheer themselves up by doing certain things.
[*]Bipolar Depression ( Clinical term )
Depression with manic episode(s).
[*]Endogenous Depression
Acute Depression with no obvious cause(s).
[*]Involutional Depression
Depression that occurs in the elderly.
( Generally the same as Major Depression )
[*]Reactive Depression
Depression caused by an obvious traumatic life episode(s).
[*]Major Depression ( Clinical term )
Depression in persons who have no ability to cheer themselves up.
[*]Postpartum Depression
Depression that occurs in women soon after having a baby.
( Generally the same as Major Depression )
[*]Primary Depression
Depression alone with no other medical illness / disorder.
[*]Psychotic Depression ( Clinical term )
Depression accompanied by delusions and/or hallucinations.
[*]Secondary Depression
Depression that occurs after the onset of another medical illness / disorder.
[*]Unipolar Depression
Depression with no manic episode.[/list]</font>

So they are saying that they couldn't put your diagnosis into any of those specific categories based on the criteria that define them. Your symptoms may have indicated several of the categories.

I found this info at http://www.psyweb.com/Mdisord/moodd.html, and http://www.idexter.com

[poptardqueen]

thanks do much dexter. Reading this really helps me get some grasp on why I was given this diagnosis. I can definately see that there is probably more of a combination of several rather than fitting simply into one. You = awesome

<3
Kelly

[dexter]

you are welcome. I know it can be frustrating when you don't know what your diagnosis means and the docs often don't explain it well.

I have a friend who is bipolar, she was hospitalized and diagnosed but no one there ever talked to her about it... HORRIBLE! In fact she had never heard the term "bipolar" before and the very first time she came across it was when she was discharged and saw it written on the paperwork they gave her! She was in quite a panic simply because she had no idea what it meant, how serious it was, etc and it just sounded really scary to her. (not that bipolar can't be scary but can you imagine being labeled by a doctor and having no idea what it means?)

this was an extreme case but most people i think get a simple explanation from the doctor and then find a lot of more complicated stuff on their "chart". Not everyone cares about that but it would be nice if they offered a better explanation. I still don't get all the "axis" stuff

-- The world is what we make of it --
-- Dave
-- <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.idexter.com>http://www.idexter.com</A>

[poptardqueen]

It is definately frustrating when you dont know what is wrong. Up until I had to go to the hospital, I had never been flat out told what was wrong with me. And even in the hospital, they always danced around the subject when I asked them flat out 'What's my diagnosis?' I think this is appauling. As shown in the example of your friend, it is such a shame when YOU are the one left out of your own care and diagnosis. Even though I am 19 and am a full-fledged adult, my parents were told so much more about what was wrong with me (even though what they told them wasnt really right, and my parents did not understand a bit of it anyways). I felt so helpless in the hospital, which is ironic because I was forced to go there so that I would gain more control over my life due to the "close, intensive" care in the psych hospital. It is a shame that doctors feel then need to not disclose information about a patient's problems to THEM. Maybe it's just my inkling, but I've always had the feeling that my doctor is hesitant to throw any definitions at me in fear that I will become some self-fulfilling prophecy. Ugh. And this only makes things worse. But anyways, thanks so much for the help!

[FearsomeAnna]

What doctors need to understand is that witholding diagnosis information from a mentally ill patient is like witholding a cancer diagnosis. Completely, totally, thoroughly appalling. How are you supposed to fight a demon when you don't know its name? By witholding that information from you, the doctor is denying the patient the right to participate in their own recovery. Some people may not want to hear what they have, but they need to - no one wants to hear they have cancer, for instance, but it'd be akin to medical malpractice to deny that patient the right to seek the best treatment and opinions for them. Just because ours is a disease of the brain makes it no less of something to fight. I can understand where they might withold this information from a patient who is critically mentally ill and may not have the resources or capacity to understand their diagnosis at the moment, i.e. where it might cause them more harm than good. However, as a recovery starts to be made, the patient must know what they're up against. To fail to tell the patient is to hinder their active recovery.

some of it's magic
some of it's tragic
but i had a good life all the way......
~jimmy buffett

[Rapunzel]

It is frustrating. I never did manage to get my T to tell me a diagnosis this last year either, really. I told him I thought it was seasonal, so he talked about Seasonal Affective Disorder, and months later he also brought up the possibility of Bipolar Disorder. We also talked about diagnosis in general - that it is a tool for describing what is going on with someone in a way that makes it easier to communicate it to others, but that people often don't fit one diagnosis very well. Lots of people have more than one diagnosis and then they have to decide which one is primary, and that can be difficult to determine. It comes down to that the whole concept of diagnoses is the medical model, which tends to assume that the mind and the body are separate entities, and that you have a disease, and then treat the disease rather than the person. So a lot of professionals don't like diagnoses, as they recognize that you are a person and they want to work with you and consider your unique qualities rather than stuff you into some pigeonhole. So sometimes that is why they are reluctant to tell you a diagnosis. But I still want to know what it is - if a diagnosis is useful for communicating about the problem, the client might learn something useful from it too.

Dexter, about the Axis stuff - try not to overcomplicate it. Axis II consists of the personality disorders (disorders based on long-term personality traits). Everything else (considered more acute and generally shorter-term) is Axis I.

[poptardqueen]

I can't express how adamently I agree with everything you just said. It makes me furious that I am the one being left out of my own care. It seems so backwards. You're right about *needing* to hear what is wrong with you put into words. Somehow it helps contain and identify it more readily than some anonymous defect running rampant. I still am not satisfied that I have been given a correct diagnosis, or even a specific one. I do feel that it is standing in the way of my recovery, but also feel helpless. It leads me to self-diagnosins (which is probably pretty correct) since I feel my doctors can't thouroughly reach inside my head and see it for themselves.

[poptardqueen]

Hey Wendy,
I definately understand that doctors usually diagnose only for practicality's sake and to give a vague label to a person, but like you said it *is* SO frustrating for someone to either not tell you what is wrong with you, or to either tell you it is something you feel it is not. But more than anything thw withholding is the worst. I feel the same way as you about wanting to know my diagnosis, I've just been too passive and avoident (as is my nature) when it comes to demanding a diagnosis. I don't know why, I cant imagine it can be any worse than everything I think of.

<3 Kelly<3