[ThingWithFeathers]

I've been in a bit of a bad way the past few weeks, and I've found it quite hard to admit to my t, doc and MH nurse. I feel that I'm in some way responsible for the way I'm feeling, which in turn makes me ashamed for not doing better than I am. My doc and MH nurse said something that made me feel a little better about where I'm at. When I was telling them how I felt about not doing so well, they reminded me that I have an illness and that I shouldn't feel responsible for feeling the way I do.

The reminder really helped me, but then I remembered reading that some people don't like the 'illness' title for a wide number of reasons.

How do you feel about ts and other mental health professionals using this term to explain client feelings and behaviours?

Would you like or dislike your t bringing up your mental illness as an explanation for your behaviours, thoughts or feelings?

It was beneficial to me, but am very curious about others views.

[Senna_Cotto]

The way you describe it would be helpful for me.

I've had people taking it too far by trying to explain absolutely everything with the fact that I have Asperger's. Then when I protested I was asked what was me and what was my Asperger's. Thing is, it's impossible to say. Aside from som possible former life that I don't remember it's not like I've had a time when I didn't have AS. The fact that that T acted like she was trying to cure me without asking me if I wanted help with it isn't doing anything to make me more willing to be seen as a diagnosis and not a person.

No dx or illness doesn't work for me. But I'm a believer that if we make our unconscious, conscious than we do better. No illness as such.
The symptoms caused by living in the dark are pretty typical really. No surprise when I feel as I do. No drama. Just carry on digging.

[The_little_didgee]

I found labels helpful only after I was properly assessed and diagnosed. The correct diagnosis has really helped me heal and understand myself along with ease my sense of responsibility for my illness. It is hard to feel responsible for developing a psychotic dosorder. The only time I have felt responsible for my illness was when I was misdiagnosed and during episodes of major depression.

My therapist doesn't focus on my labels so she rarely ever discusses them unless I am struggling and need medication.

Sometimes a correct label can be a hindrance. I have especially noticed this with psychotic disorders. Some clinicians assume that we all live in group homes, cannot do anything independently and are simpletons.

[LonesomeTonight]

For me, it depends. It helps sometimes to know the reason I'm feeling something is my generalized anxiety disorder. But I also have OCD, and for some reason, I'm more likely to bristle when my T suggests something might be because of that. Like yesterday, she said maybe the reason I'm thinking so much about my marriage counselor is the obsessive part of OCD. In that case, it seems like it's reducing feelings to symptoms of an illness. Not sure why one is OK and the other isn't. I guess it depends on the circumstances?

[nottrustin]

Honestly for me it is not helpful at all. First of all I still struggle with my dx after all these years. When t brings it into into the conversation I usually time her out. It makes me angry not at her but the situation. It makes me angry then I got the bad generis and that people in my life hurt me so bad that it likely triggered the genetics of depression and PTSD. One on a great while when she mentions that my PTSD is part of what is happening to me I am OK...

The diagnosis was vital in getting the right treatment for me. Bipolar disorder, wrongly diagnosed as something else (in my case straight depression), can really create treatment problems as antidepressants alone can cause someone who actually has bipolar disorder to go into mania or can cause rapid cycling. The diagnosis got us to the right medical treatment for my disorder which is very medical in basis. Understanding the comorbidity of my bipolar disorder with PTSD enabled my pdoc and my T to better understand how those two diagnosis complicated each other. They were able to help me understand what was causing what in my symptoms. Better understanding led to better ability to be proactive about my symptoms, better ability to pick apart what was happening when and how to deal with things, and probably most importantly, more patience with myself when I just wanted to hang it all up.

I have never found that I've been stigmatized because of my diagnoses; in fact, I think those that have worked with me have shown great care and respect for me, for my ability to rise to those challenges, and greater care because they knew what I was dealing with.

There was a time when it felt like those illnesses ran my life, probably because they very much did (I truly was quite ill for a very long time), but because we were able to really define what was going on with me, I have greatly recovered from my PTSD symptoms to the point that they are rarely an issue for me anymore, and my bipolar symptoms are very much stabilized at this point. Hopefully things will stay that way for me, but if not, I am thankful that the understanding of my diagnoses will make figuring out what is happening a quicker process so that I will be able to be treated and recover stability much more quickly than before diagnosis.

[Leah123]

I received a PTSD diagnosis after a few months working with my therapist. I knew I already had some of the symptoms, but hadn't really considered ever having an actual illness. When my therapist suggested it and asked me to take a look at the criteria, I was resistant at first, and then got curious and when I reviewed... a light went off. At first it was scary, life-changing, but then I came to terms with knowing that I wasn't a bit different than before we found that description, it was just something to help me... have a blueprint of how to handle my symptoms and change the painful parts of my day to day life that I could.

That was about two years go. I've found it very helpful since then to be able to find others who have this and how well I relate to them and to calm myself down when I'm feeling very out of sorts, because like my therapist says, sometimes naming things helps take away their power. Identifying something is a step in accepting and then working through it.

I'm not feeling very eloquent atm, but hope that helps answer your question. I agree with you about that feeling better when I'm reminded of something like that at times.

[Chummy]

Getting a diagnosis was helpful for me. I didn't know what was wrong with me. Why I was scared for ''normal'' things/situations. It helped me understand myself a little better and also knowing there are more people who feel like me.
I don't call it an illness. It is more a disorder. People call depression an illness. I find it hard to see it as an illness, I don't feel sick. I feel a lot of bad things, but I don't feel sick.
My T doesn't call it an illness. I haven't heard her say that to me. She does use the term anxiety disorder or depression to explain why I feel or my behaviour in certain situations.
I do feel sort of responsible. I mean I didn't chose to have anxiety or depression,but I can't help thinking I'm also partly to blame for it.

[ScarletPimpernel]

Getting my diagnosis was a relief to me. It meant that I'm not crazy, lazy, or making things up.

I don't mind the word "illness", but I know other people do so I try not to use it.

My ex-T used to remind me that mental illness is real when I was hard on myself. It meant a lot to me. It was her validating that I'm fighting a battle. It's difficult sometimes having mental health issues because the wounds aren't tangible; they're on the inside.

[PinkFlamingo99]

I 've been thinking about this lately. I have been functioning so badly the past while that I get really angry and frustrated with myself. My self- talk is absolutely horrible. It has really helped to be reminded that I have an illness and that I'm working on it and it's not my fault. I also like the way she tells me that I'm not disgusting or pathetic but that it makes her sad that I don't feel like it's important to take care of myself. I like the idea that it's okay to be sad for myself sometimes.

My thinking tends to go "what the hell is wrong with me, why can't I just do X, Y, or Z like a normal person?" So I think that thinking of it as an illness really is kinder and more forgiving.

[PinkFlamingo99]

Originally Posted by ScarletPimpernel

Getting my diagnosis was a relief to me. It meant that I'm not crazy, lazy, or making things up.

I don't mind the word "illness", but I know other people do so I try not to use it.

My ex-T used to remind me that mental illness is real when I was hard on myself. It meant a lot to me. It was her validating that I'm fighting a battle. It's difficult sometimes having mental health issues because the wounds aren't tangible; they're on the inside.

I agree. I like that my new one uses the term "illness" sometimes. I feel like I can be more understanding with myself. The other day she said "the reason why they are called 'mental illnesses' is because they really are illnesses." So often it's easy to just think I'm lazy or unwilling.

I was talking to this about my pastor too, how a lot of times it's hard for me to pray because it's hard to remember it's an illness and I feel like a messed up, bad person.

[Sarah1985]

Yes. I found it most helpful for her to explain that my symptoms are because I have ptsd, and I'm not a freak. And that because of my experiences it's perfectly understandable that I have it. She doesn't care too much about labels, So it doesn't get brought up much. But in the early sessions, it was nice to have that face of what was going on.

[velcro003]

Oh man, this is so what I am dealing with right now. I saw a T for about 5 years who suggested I was depressed, and I went on meds for a few years just because. I didn't actually believe I was depressed. I know I was really depressed the summer after I graduated college. Cried every day, didn't want to wake up (ever) in the mornings...etc. to me, unless I am feeling that bad, I am not depressed.

I am seeing a new T now, and after having a bad week at work, met with my T and she said I show all the signs for depression. She explained that after my major depressive episode after college (12 years ago. Eek), my serotonin/dopamine levels never went back to normal, and I've been chronically depressed (low grade) since. It sounded like an ok explanation last week when I was feeling bad, but now I second guess it. It sounds like an easy way out from my life. I do not have it bad, and just because I can't ever seem to propel my life forward, it's not depression, it's just ME. I also realized that maybe I have been making it seem worse to her bc that way I will get taken more seriously. I had a couple of memories come up from when I was a kid where I hung around by myself acting sadder than I was to seek sympathy. Ugh. It makes me feel disgusted and like a manipulative, attention seeking fraud.

[AncientMelody]

It depends on the situation. When I was having severe anxiety and depression a year and a half ago, when I first started seeing her, I truly did feel ill. I was waking up with panic attacks. Daytime anxiety I could at least try to talk myself down, but this very adrenaline driven wake up out of sleep anxiety felt debilitating. When depressed my body felt physically heavy. I really did have a lot of physical as well as emotional symptoms.

So this combined with the fact that she's a psychiatrist, there was definitely going to be an official diagnosis as such and I was fine with that.

Now, I still get anxious, I still have generalized anxiety disorder and am taking Cymbalta for it, but I certainly don't feel "ill" and it would feel ridiculous to go in with my psychiatrist and discuss it in terms of a chronic disease state. BUUUT I've felt better and then gotten pretty symptomatic again on a few occasions so I find it helpful to consider seeing her and stay ahead of the game.

Honestly these days I talk more about illness in terms of MY patients and how that stress can impact me more than we talk about ME having an illness. My self worth was a big issue in the past and sometimes is now though I've come a long way. She doesn't discuss my self worth in terms of illness but in something that I do have accountability for. I think with regards to that, she's on target.

[stopdog]

I don't know of one that I have been labeled with - the therapists probably have put a label on me but as I don't use insurance - I have never bothered to ask. I would probably reject whatever they wanted to label me so I would not find a diagnosis useful.

[Ad Intra]

Being diagnosed with MDD helped me name what was wrong with me. In short, it wasn't me