[Brock_Richards]

While I have not been diagnosed with any personality disorders (and have been diagnosed with major depression-recurrent and dysthymia), my psychiatrist suggested to me that my issue was characterological and that he was just treating symptoms. When I broached the subject with my psychoanalyst, she, of course, did not answer directly, but agreed that we were working to disentangle a pattern of rather maladaptive behaviors. My question is, has anyone else been diagnosed sideways, as it were. And here's the scary thing: I'm a psychologist, too. Agh.

Just wondering (and introducing myself),

Brock Richards

[Miracle1986]

Originally Posted by Brock_Richards

(and introducing myself),Brock Richards

Welcome to PC Brock!!!

[Sannah]

So Brock they are suggesting NPD? I have an antenna for that one. My mom was Narcissistic. If you are, you would start triggering me pretty quick! Lets have a conversation .

(I can handle being triggered, it's okay).

[90mphINneutral]

A narcissistic psychologist lol.. no it's okay I'm NPD too. Received my diagnosis from psych testing MMPI, MCM etc. Personally I don't see whats wrong with my NPD.. So what if I have an excessive amount of self importance.. better that way then feeling sorry for yourself saying poor me poor me. NPD is what keeps me going it's my BPD that kicks my butt. bleh... gonna go study Spanish now.

[AboveAllOthers]

Well, welcome to the club of confusion and sideways diagnoses. I got diagnosed first with NPD, schizoid, schizotypal and very recently, also anti-social personality disorder (ASPD), with the other 2 (schizoid + schziotypal being a bit reconsidered).

As 90mphINeutral said, I too don't see really anything wrong. I feel good about myself, and seeing how so many other people are screwed up with emotions left, right and center, although I feel only anger, there's no mess with that stuff.

For me, anger is something that keeps me going, knowing I have only 1 life (meaning others in the way either move or I go through).

I'm curious. Since you probably have immense knowledge in mental heath, how did you get diagnosed and get the problem spotted?

As for the maladaptive traits, we all have some big, dark wolf that feels a need to come out and destroy whatever we want/it wants to. It's a question of how much, how often, when, where and to whom we set the pack free upon. Hmm... seems my hope of being profound didn't come out as planned. Oh well, if you understand it, job well done.

[RiverX]

Well, IMO there is as much disorder on both sided of the desk. You have the advantage of self enquiry and honesty.
As you're in Cali, theres a few Ts there who are specifically trained in the disorders of the self. You're already in therapy, but if you wanted to follow this up, I can give you a phone number.

river

[whoarewe]

Hi. I am an MSW, trained to do psychosocial counseling, but i do case management now. So I don't see a clinical population and am not an expert. But I did study bpd extensively in school. I am here because my husband has a relative with npd and pbd.

If I could just gently add this bit of information about the "sideways" sensation, which i hope helps: your psychoanalyst may not really emphasize DSM diagnoses or at least pds. If your psychiatrist is evaluating you to make a differential diagnosis on axis II (any personality disorder at all), that might cause you to feel confused. It can take a little while to make the pd diagnosis. My husband's relative has been in therapy his whole life, and hasn't actually been diagnosed (as far as we know) correctly. Not to get too precious about diagnoses, but it might help you to go back to the psychiatrist, to find out what he/she thinks about you and npd. They are almost always accompanied by anxiety and depression, so it does make sense that it should be ruled out. I can imagine how confusing it is if you are going to clinicians of differing schools of thought.Knowing the other two mood disorders is a good start. I wish all of you good luck.

[Brock_Richards]

There has been no diagnosis. I'm just trying to make sense of my horrendous behavior.

[whoarewe]

I see. I don't know the details of your behavior. But something has made you curious about pds or npd in particular? Maybe that you were told that your behaviors are "characterological"?

That is admirable. My brother in-law would fly into a rage if anyone ever suggested it; typical but not the only reaction, suggesting no insight whatsoever. One reason pds can take so long to diagnose is that the individual is often a master at maniputation, especially in reporting details to the therapist. That's true with this guy.

I have the DSM IV, if you would like to inquire about the charactersistics of any one of the pds. If you feel comfortable revealing details of the behavior, I would be glad to share those with you. I have noticed the some websites have some criteria that isn't consistent with the DSM.

[whoarewe]

Brock,

In my last post, i neglected to address your main concern:making sense of your horrendous behavior. Do you examine what drives you to act? For example, are you compelled to act by a sense of emptiness that you strive to fill? Afterwards, are you consumed by self-hatred?

Louisa