conflicting diagnosis!

This is related to my diagnosis post wherein some folks asked if I received a second opinion. Actually, this doctor is my second opinion. Before moving to where I live now I was examined by a team (!) of doctors who thought I had antisocial personality disorder. The new doctor thinks I have bipolar.

So, I've done some reading about both and believe me when I tell you that they are *nothing* alike.

I don't even understand how that can happen. Can you imagine going to your physician and he says you have a broken arm and then the next dr says you broke your leg? Unbelievable.

Thelema,

Is it possible that you have both? Lots of us, in fact maybe even most of us, have more than one diagnosis that may or may not be related. Another possibility is that you may have presented your symptoms differently between one and the next.

I've gotten various different opinions and diagnoses from the different therapists and counselors I have gone to, ranging from homesickness to dependent and avoidant personality disorders to major depression, dysthymic disorder, and social anxiety disorder, and finally one therapist asked me if I might be bipolar. There is quite a range in there. Some of it reflects changes over time, or what I was able to or wanted to talk about at that particular time, etc. I think there was some validity at least to most of those (except the one who said I was just homesick).

p.s. I'm not sure how much your diagnosis actually matters anyway - what is important is that you are getting treatment that helps you to function better and get more out of life. We are all individuals and are all different, even if we have identical diagnoses. We're also all people, and as such we are more alike than we are different.

Diagnosis is often based on behavioral indicators: descriptions of your actions... your own interpretation/reaction to environmental cues, etc.

The "telling" of your stories... or any particular doctor's awarenesses of your different behaviors (e.g. thru direct observation or clinical report, self presentation, etc)... could easily render "alternative" diagnoses.

I think it's quite reasonable that these two diagnoses be considered for a given behavioral profile.

Their behavioral manifestations are NOT, necessarily, so far apart.

The incorrectly-identified-broken-bone analogy is a vast oversimplification of symptom identification/management.