u got to be kidding me

this stuf is for real it's hard for me to belive i have so many diagnosis how can one person be this and that and another are u sure ther not just making this stuff up

They're guessing.
Psychology isn't an exact science. They can't test for anything 100%, so they have to look at symptoms and behavior patterns and personality and pick something. A diagnosis is a good starting point because it gives us an idea, a direction. Beyond that? In some ways it's still voodoo. A LOT of conditions have significant overlap, and "what I've got" may shift over time. We start somewhere. That's what it really means to me. We gotta start somewhere.

inside, many times they list all the dx's for insurance purposes, and to have a record of what to follow along the way. When you have a dx of PTSD, for instance as your profile says, that can include the nightmares, anxiety, personality issues and many other dx's you might have also recieved.

Don't worry too much about what they write down, just stay focused on working with them on healing. Nothing they write changes who you are or aren't, you know?

Yeah don't worry about the diagnosis. What I had to learn was to worry about how to treat the symptoms not what they call it as a whole. Like sky said they use the DSM diagnoses for insurance reasons they have a number by the name of the dx like for example, 301.81 is borderline personality disorder... I think, don't have the DSM on me right now, but yeah that number is just a code used for insurance reasons. You want to focus on the characteristics (symptoms) of the disorder so you know what to work on. Hopefully this helps you.

Diagnosis help mental health professionals communicate with each other. It keeps academic research and education organized. I don't think any good MHP will forget that the patients well being is the most important part and a diagnosis is not the word of God