[yagr]

A recent poll here asked the question: Do you agree with your diagnosis? Forty-seven people responded as of fifteen seconds ago - or however long it took me to type all the words before "fifteen seconds ago"

One person said, 'Not really' and one person said, 'No - I completely disagree'. I was the completely disagree guy. Which doesn't give me much company - fortunately I'm an introvert.

But for those who don't agree - or for those who have not been given a diagnosis, go ahead and diagnose yourself here. I'll go first.

Other specified dissociative disorder and have, before they went and got rid of it, Aspergers Syndrome.

[Argonautomobile]

Hey Yagr--I don't think you're as alone as that poll would suggest. A lot of people end up agreeing with their treatment team by default because that's the only way to get care, or just resigning themselves to the professionals' opinion, because they are, after all, professionals.

I remember, though, that you're continuing therapy on the advice of your lawyer and that your diagnosis may be the result of cultural insensitivity--so in that respect your situation might be more unique.

ANYWAY

As I noted on another thread, I disagree with my diagnosis but agree with my treatment plan. My treatment team is very fond of reminding me that depression is a mental illness resulting from chemical imbalances and treatable through pharmaceuticals. And also that correcting apostrophe misuse in waiting room signs is bizarre and potentially hypomanic behavior.

I think life is hard. And that people can't have had multiple "Stroke's"

So my treatment team and I can disagree on diagnoses--and that's okay. As long as we can agree on symptom management and are willing to try whatever works to achieve that, it's all okay.

I wonder if you can reach a similar agreement with your care providers, since getting new ones would be very difficult for you?

[yagr]

Originally Posted by Argonautomobile

I wonder if you can reach a similar agreement with your care providers, since getting new ones would be very difficult for you?

Your memory is excellent, you remembered my backstory perfectly. I think my situation is odd in that, while I know that I have certain mental abnormalities, I've found a way to live comfortably with them. So much so in fact, that modifying those abnormalities would cause me a huge sense of loss.

Granted, I'm in a tough spot at the moment - sudden and severe physical disability making me unable to provide for myself has upset the balance that is usually my life, but I'll have my disability hearing in 2016 and I'm pretty much a slam dunk with everything that's wrong with me. With that income, I can go back to my regular lifestyle in which I thrive - mental illness and all.

[The_little_didgee]

When I was a teenager I never agreed with my BPD diagnosis. I knew something was wrong but it wasn't BPD. It didn't make sense. All it did was describe a few behaviors that started immediately after taking an SSRI. BPD failed to describe my experience, why I had trouble recognizing faces (prosopagnosia), decoding social cues, reading facial expressions, my obsessions, and my social troubles. They all thought it was due to an overwhelming fear of abandonment which made no sense to me, because I didn't feel that. Years later I got diagnosed with ASD which describes my life accurately. My developmental and school history support my ASD diagnosis and so do my parents. I had all the signs of ASD when I was three years old.

I made it very clear that BPD was a wrong diagnosis, which turned out to be correct. The clinicians all thought I was in denial and had suppressed memories of child abuse. Once I stopped the SSRI my so-called BPD behaviors went away.

I agree with my GAD diagnosis, because my acute senses cause a lot of overwhelming anxiety. I've been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar in the past but I don't agree with any of those labels. I suspect I had psychotic depression with a lot of agitation.

[ChavInAHat]

I don't disagree with the PTSD, but My daughter has been diagnosed with ASD, I can see many similarities and in some areas I struggle more than she does.
It is not just me who thinks it. My current T and previous T both said that I have many 'aspie' traits-
Enough probably for a diagnosis.

Here in the UK, they can't diagnose ASD, it has to be done by a specialist team.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ruh roh]

Hi yagr. I don't agree with the dx I was given. My therapist of more than a year doesn't agree with it either. She believes my symptoms are related to growing up with mentally ill family members and things I was subjected to, including violent crime by others. As those things are sorted through, I can put them in their place and the symptoms abate. I think ptsd gets thrown around far too loosely, so I don't really want to even use that term, but it comes the closest. It's ongoing, though, as I am having to care for one of those family members who mistreated me and is in the early stages of dementia--the daily contact and crises are pushing me at my limits. I'm not sure a diagnosis is needed for that, but I bet if I went back to the clinic that sent me down the mh rabbit hole, they would happily slap a label on me and prescribe meds.

Circus clown

[Argonautomobile]

Originally Posted by yagr

Your memory is excellent, you remembered my backstory perfectly. I think my situation is odd in that, while I know that I have certain mental abnormalities, I've found a way to live comfortably with them. So much so in fact, that modifying those abnormalities would cause me a huge sense of loss.

Granted, I'm in a tough spot at the moment - sudden and severe physical disability making me unable to provide for myself has upset the balance that is usually my life, but I'll have my disability hearing in 2016 and I'm pretty much a slam dunk with everything that's wrong with me. With that income, I can go back to my regular lifestyle in which I thrive - mental illness and all.

I'm sorry things are tough right now and really hope things go your way at the hearing.

Diagnoses are one thing, but if they're leading your team to try and "treat" you for things you've already learned to deal with and don't think are problematic, that sucks. It's like insisting to someone whose missing a finger that they've got to wear this prosthetic--or telling someone with an extra finger that it needs to be cut off.

Their job isn't to make every patient compliant with a five-finger model. Their job is to help people play the piano. Or build birdhouses. Or do whatever it is you do with your fingers.

Seems like you're just kind on on hold until the hearing.

[nottrustin]

Diagnosis' are very difficult and the fact that professionals disagree is very common. It isn't an exact science. For a long time my pcdoc had me as Bipolar but I never agreed with it. I never felt manic. My T disagreed too for the same reason. She said that the problem is that I try so hard to put a happy face on that sometimes I over do it and may appear manic to some people who don't know me well and see me on a regular basis. T had me diagnosed with major depression that is brought on by PTSD. That made sense to me. Recently I brought up the subject to pcdoc and she agreed that initially she felt I displayed symptoms of Bipolar but over the years she realized that it wasn't accurate so she changed my diagnosis to PTSD and major depression.

I disagreed with my diagnosis of conversion disorder - not because I thought I didn't have conversion disorder, but of the way the diagnosis was given. Conversion disorder can only be diagnosed when physical causes have been excluded, and at the time, no one had taken as much as an X-ray of my wrist.

[yagr]

Originally Posted by ruh roh

Hi yagr. I don't agree with the dx I was given. ... I think ptsd gets thrown around far too loosely, so I don't really want to even use that term, but it comes the closest.

I agree wholeheartedly. For me, the term has lost its meaning as a result - so to attach it to me is meaningless.

Originally Posted by ruh roh

It's ongoing, though, as I am having to care for one of those family members who mistreated me and is in the early stages of dementia--the daily contact and crises are pushing me at my limits.

Wow. I'm certain you have a good reason(s) for doing this, and whatever it is is none of my business, but I couldn't help but wonder under what conditions I would subject myself willingly to that and came up empty. For what its worth, of the posters I have read on this forum, you are in the top percentile of folks I believe could make it through such an ordeal.

Originally Posted by ruh roh

I'm not sure a diagnosis is needed for that, but I bet if I went back to the clinic that sent me down the mh rabbit hole, they would happily slap a label on me and prescribe meds.

I'm certain they would. After reading this, I began considering why I am so keen on getting a proper diagnosis right now. I mean, I'm fifty years old and I've really never cared. I've decided that the answer is twofold.

I've known, since I was old enough to question such things, that I was different. I was pre-teen when I decided that whatever it was that made me different would probably qualify as mental illness. It never really concerned me though. All I was concerned about was figuring out a way to be happy in spite of it. I was abnormally solution focused from the beginning.

It took until twenty-seven for me to sort through everything and put everything in order, but I had achieved my goal; I was happy. There were some huge stressors some fifteen years later, but I weathered them intact. Then, at about the twenty year mark, I became permanently disabled which led to financial ruin amongst other things. I'm now firmly implanted and dependent upon 'the system', which I had avoided and remained separate from as part of my 'happy plan'. So back to the question, why the interest now?

Partly because while I should have no problem getting disability, most of us realize that the system is not fair. Whatever mental illness I have managed to hide and function with all these years could actually help me now. That's the first reason. But your response prompted a second reason.

For the first time in my life, I'm now actually curious about it. For my own edification, I want a name for those qualities that are different. I've solves the most important riddle - how to live with whateveritis. Now I'd like the answer to the second riddle. I would trade a diagnosis that would guarantee me disability for the truth that wouldn't.

What I've gotten instead, is gibberish. I'd liken it to spending a year talking about my experiences in combat and getting a diagnosis of gender dysphoria. I really don't care what my diagnosis is, but at least make me believe you were present for our sessions.

Anyway, thanks for prompting your thoughts and for the opportunity to clarify my own thinking.

[ruh roh]

The reason I'm in this situation is partly logistics--I am the only one who is here to help this family member--and partly because it's healing for me to be the very opposite to someone who denied me any compassion or care. If I become like them, then what has the point been to my life? Resentment and hatred? No thanks. It takes my breath away some days, more and more as things worsen, and there are moments I just want to jump in front of traffic, but I keep going back to this need to be humane--for my own growth as much as anything. I will not be hardened by my life experiences.

It sounds as though you've reached a similar place in seeing value in therapy with someone who doesn't value (or see) you. In a way, we both find what we're seeking in the outcome, not so much the delivery method.

"I would trade a diagnosis that would guarantee me disability for the truth that wouldn't." The fact that the system hasn't been able to give you that truth is probably a good thing. I've only ever found it designed to find the things it's already decided to look for.

[yagr]

Originally Posted by ruh roh

The reason I'm in this situation is partly logistics--I am the only one who is here to help this family member--and partly because it's healing for me to be the very opposite to someone who denied me any compassion or care. If I become like them, then what has the point been to my life? Resentment and hatred? No thanks. It takes my breath away some days, more and more as things worsen, and there are moments I just want to jump in front of traffic, but I keep going back to this need to be humane--for my own growth as much as anything. I will not be hardened by my life experiences.

Have you read The Fire from Within by Carlos Castenada? In it, he describes the petty tyrant. Briefly, (I hope):

A petty tyrant is a person who causes distress by imposing his/her will on others using psychological pressure rather than physical force. The petty tyrant feels he may impose his will because he believes that he is a superior being and because he wants to operate from a position of authority.

Petty tyrants are the button-pushers, the individuals that have the ability to throw things off-balance for you if you let them. Many petty tyrants are unaware that they are the cause of so much frustration. They are effective teachers because they force the warrior to closely monitor their own reactions and habitual behaviors. The result is mindfulness and the ability to shift the assemblage point, even if ever so slightly, in order to loosen the fixation to the conditioned response that causes the reaction in the first place.

[Suraya]

correcting apostrophe misuse in waiting room signs is bizarre and potentially hypomanic behavior.

I guess I better stop correcting poor grammar - lol!

[NowhereUSA]

They say MDD and GAD.

I agree.

MDD is treated with ketamine and quite successfully. The GAD is kept in check with mindfulness and the occasional Xanax.

I call it a win.

[Argonautomobile]

Originally Posted by Suraya

I guess I better stop correcting poor grammar - lol!

Apparently there's a fine line between editing and vandalism.

[ChipperMonkey]

PTSD. (I have this one.)

Attachment disorder. (Should exist in adults and not be assumed to morph into a personality disorder.)

[ScarletPimpernel]

I had my Pdoc and T diagnose me at the same time. This was just 2 years ago. I was tired of wondering what my diagnoses were. I had been told I was bipolar, borderline, double depression, major depression, anxiety disorder nos, gad, ptsd, agoraphobic, social anxiety, etc. At one time, I was even told I was making everything up. Anyways, my T and Pdoc came up with similar diagnoses. My Pdoc said major depression reoccurring, anxiety disorder, and BPD. T said MDD, GAD, and BPD traits. Another Pdoc (a year ago) added social anxiety and PTSD.

I agree. I already knew I suffered from depression and anxiety. That wasn't new. But I wanted to know if I was BPD. I thought I was. People hinted at it every once in awhile. So officially being diagnosed with it was a relief. And I feel good knowing that my T and Pdoc both agreed on the diagnosis too.

[magno11789]

I don't consider myself a disorder and neither does my T. However, I agree with the disorder she had to give for insurance to work. I was diagnosed with bulimia. I agree with it because well, I do struggle with bulimia. When I first started therapy several years ago with a different T I was starving myself and had a pretty low weight but not low enough to be considered anorexic. At the time I was diagnosed with EDNOS. I disagreed with the diagnosis at the time.

[Lauliza]

I think I have mild Asperger's or on the autism spectrum as the DSM V would classify it. My pdoc and therapist disagree and think I have severe ADD which can be very similar. I do agree with the mood disorder, GAD and ADD.

[vonmoxie]

I had trouble with the poll you mention, because the nature of how practitioners talk to me about actual diagnostics does not tend to be information rich in order for me to either agree or disagree. However, I am happy to share what I think is a much more well reviewed assessment of my diagnostics than any practitioner I have known could have or would have bothered to put together:

Other Specified Dissociative Disorder with identity disturbance (current; triggered to a disordered level a few years ago)
Major Depressive Disorder/Double Depression (with Dysthymia) (getting towards a full remission right now, but had it since I was a kid, with each of my episodes having been multi-year)
Complicated PTSD (some combination of the PTSD/CPTSD constructs due to life-threatening situations experienced both in my childhood and since, with symptoms having been kicked into a really unfortunate gear the last few years)

Other things that I personally consider to be either in remission for me or currently at a non-disordered level are social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, complicated grief, avoidant personality disorder, and a wide array of community acquired traits of personality disorders especially in the frequencies of Cluster B.

That's a partial rundown anyway. I may very well be forgetting something.

Practitioners don't much appreciate my self-awareness. Deprives them of the narcissistic benefits of ownership over the "truth" they prefer to discover for themselves. (Not surprisingly, their ideas vary wildly.) I mostly try not to tell them anything that I think, because they seem to think automatically that if I conceive it, it must be wrong. That there must be some vested interest I have in having a particular label applied to my mental state. I truly cannot imagine what investment I could have in any of these regrettable states of affair. Would that I had not been raised by wolves I would likely not have had to be bothered with any of it.

[Favorite Jeans]

Originally Posted by Argonautomobile

As I noted on another thread, I disagree with my diagnosis but agree with my treatment plan. My treatment team is very fond of reminding me that depression is a mental illness resulting from chemical imbalances and treatable through pharmaceuticals. And also that correcting apostrophe misuse in waiting room signs is bizarre and potentially hypomanic behavior.

I think life is hard. And that people can't have had multiple "Stroke's"

OMG. I about died laughing.

Couldn't you just explain to them that you're not (necessarily) hypomanic but that you belong to the militant wing of The Punctuationalists and you will neither submit to misused apostrophes nor allow your fellow innocent patients to have that sort of rampant illiteracy wantonly inflicted upon them.

Sheesh. In a healthcare waiting room no less. How are you supposed to get a decent blood pressure reading on someone after subjecting them to multiple stroke's? Are they trying to GIVE people stroke's? And is one just supposed to stand by dumbly while this happen's? Indeed the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

[venusss]

As I noted on another thread, I disagree with my diagnosis but agree with my treatment plan. My treatment team is very fond of reminding me that depression is a mental illness resulting from chemical imbalances and treatable through pharmaceuticals. And also that correcting apostrophe misuse in waiting room signs is bizarre and potentially hypomanic behavior.

I think life is hard. And that people can't have had multiple "Stroke's"

If doctor believes in chemical imbalances (or in their case likely it's imbalance's for which you need take med's) and doesn't know what apostrophe is for... they sound kinda incompetent overall.

Calling the act of correcting the mistake hypomanic just shows they are butthurt. You are brilliant for correcting it, then for merely taking photo of the sign and posting it in some grammar nazi group on FB