How do you feel about being diagnosed?

I would rather piece things together myself and look at root causes than receive a stigmatizing label from some MH professional robotically reciting DSM concepts, which usually accomplishes nothing in my experience other than to arbitrarily segregate "normal" and "abnormal" for purposes of profit, power, and politics.

I consider myself lucky not to have been in the position to have my life interpreted and labeled in this way, other than some suggestions here and there, and even that I found to be an invasion of psychological space.

I understand the need for clarity though. People need that. But I would rather be a bit uncertain than get hit with the MI hammer. In future I will make the sign of the cross and flee.

It's helpful in a way. It helps you to understand what your going through, feel validated, and get resources. Otherwise, who cares, right? Therapy, to me, is about getting better as whole and not just as diagnosis.

one of my dx was wrongly diagnosed. Now I'm stuck with it. It's on my medical file. Not happy.

if i think it's correct then I appreciate it - it helps define the treatment that might be most helpful.

My therapist doesn't use a diagnosis as I don't use insurance for therapy, but he is a psychoanalyst and doesn't use the conventional diagnoses anyway. They can use stuff like anxiety and depression and PTSD too, which my therapist has acknowledged I have, but they use 'character' designations and everyone is at 1 of 2 levels: (neurotic, borderline). I thought psychotic might have been one but maybe that is only when decompensating, as i can't remember clearly right now.

The DSM lists more behavioral symptoms although it's changed a bit recently, where character is about behavioral manifestations too, but it's personality based; more about inner world, relationships/attachment, sense of self, how one views the world, defenses, etiology, etc. I don't think I like the term character as it seems labeling too.

Hysterical and OCD personalities are usually at the neurotic level, for example. Avoidant can be too, I think. Hysterical character is a version of histrionic that is at the neurotic level instead of the borderline level. Even though the name has changed for obvious reasons, but i think therapists (both male and female) still use the term 'hysterical' for someone with a histrionic character at the neurotic level, and histrionic for someone who functions at the borderline level. There are 2 types of narcissistic character. Someone with that label can be either at the neurotic or borderline level, but I think can decompensate to the psychotic level. They are mostly fixed but I think can fluctuate with life stressors etc. as there are never perfect categories for anything. I think paranoid might include both the borderline and psychotic level. Here's a list of them all: https://sites.google.com/a/icdl.com/...le-of-contents

I feel bad for all those feeling stigmatized or labeled - MH practitioners don't have to use an axis II diagnosis. They can use the axis I if the want to. I think it's f*d up when they mark an axis II in someone's record (unless they have a really good reason to), and they know it.

Here's one organization's take on it:

Treatment models - different therapeutic approaches

And I can't sleep so am posting probably meaningless dribble so my mind isn't activated too much...

I'm not diagnosed, and don't much care for being labeled or being in a 'box'; but on the other hand, my insurance will cover pretty much everything with a diagnosis and me being in a box; and at least the box will tell them what stuff would be a waste of time to mess with...

I guess we'll see how it plays out over the next few months.

Other: To MY knowledge I've never been diagnosed with anything. Although my therapist did use the phrase "particular dysfunction" the other day and though perhaps accurate in the context of what we were talking about (procrastination, depressive thinking, rumination) it didn't feel good.

Just curious: Would a therapist be required to tell you if they diagnosed you with anything?

Other: I don't like being diagnosed with a mental illness, but at least the diagnosis allowed me to go on disability and tells doctors what treatment to give me.

Former T told me -- when I specifically asked -- that she believed I was borderline (had borderline traits was how she tried to soften it).

I didn't mind the borderline diagnosis but suddenly, so much of the weirdness with which she'd behaved towards me made sense (or so I thought) -- it's like she always treated me like I was either going to lose it completely or I was totally repressed i.e., nothing I could do / say was non-pathological.

If I needed any more impetus to terminate with her, that was it -- I'll admit it really hurt to think that she's not bothered telling me something so significant in the year plus I'd been with her.

To me these DSM concepts are not about diagnosis or etiology. They are about grouping of behavior and symptoms for the purpose of facilitating the machinery of industrial and mainstream healthcare.

Most MH professionals probably do not know enough to sift through all of the possible causes, and perform differential diagnosis. Most therapists I have been to, for example, knew nothing about bodily disease as cause of mental disturbance. They have a narrow worldview. Psychiatrists too from what i've read. Lots of vague talk about environment vs genetics.

There is apparently strong correlation between exposure to cats in childhood, and later development of schizophrenia and BPD, among other things. This is because cats transmit a parasite called Toxoplasma to humans. This microbe targets brain cells in humans. I'm guessing this not covered in the DSM nor known by many MH practitioners. Just one example.

I'm ambivalent about it. On the one hand, it's validating that my spoils are not just for attention. On the other hand, I feel very broken and defective (that feeling is confirmed by interactions with the general health community)...
While a diagnosis has helped in some respects, it also brought some unpleasant consequences - being dismissed for health concerns mostly.

I think incorrect diagnoses have been worse than the more correct ones though.

No, I don't think so. My old therapist diagnosed me with bipolar disorder but never told me personally; I only knew she did because my pdoc told me (they shared notes). My current T, however, has said to my face in plain terms what diagnoses she thinks I have.

I think also there are some inclined to act into their dx.

my T tells me frequently i should be tested for toxoplasmosis

I don't totally agree with it. I think that in certain cases a client can see ten therapists and each might give a different diagnosis. It's contingent on how much the client discloses to the therapist. It also depends on the portrayal of factual content and how close to reality it is. In other words how close to reality is the clients interpretation of their world. Then also you have to take into consideration the experts of the therapist and effects of counter transference. There's too much room for error. I think that it's easier to come up a diagnosis for some people more than others. However it's hard to prove the accuracy of the diagnosis in certain individuals based on so many variables. I know in my particular case I didn't disclose my life or feelings to my T 100%. She gave me a diagnosis Of which I disagreed with. I didn't take it seriously because I knew that she didn't have all of my info and perhaps if I went to someone else I would get a different diagnosis. However with the diagnosis that she gave me she labeled me in her world and everything from there on was questionable, invalid, and extreme. Eventhough I told her that there's so much information that she doesn't have and that I didn't understand how she can come up with a diagnosis not having enough information she then said that she didn't need the rest of the information. She's wrong and I know. She labeled with me with bpd and I was done for. I had no voice.

That shows good awareness. Since I started struggling with physical and psych problems, I've been to 7-8 therapists (for at least a month), countless mainstream physicians and specialists MDs. None ever mentioned the connection between psych issues and microbes, gut health, nutrient deficiency, toxic load, etc. Wasn't till I got away from mainstream docs and therapists that these connections were made.

I've seen this pop up in a few comments where MH workers diag someone as borderline followed by the patient remarking, as you do, about being "done for" or however they'd prefer to express it.

Are these therapists generally not willing to shift to a skill teaching approach; do they all of a sudden start hitting you with things? I'd like to understand how a therapists changes in their interactions with you when they decide on that diag.

At times I hate it, I find it difficult to reveal that I have DID. On the other hand, it has gotten me to the providers I need.Many ts won't treat it. When I went through the testing, I was pretty sure that my diagnosis would be MDD (which I got also) and/or BPD, PTSD, or DID. I was aware of the stigma about BPD and I was relieved that wasn't what came out. On the other hand, it is a pretty severe MI, and that has been quite discouraging at times.

From what I have heard and observed, BPD clients are often seen as needy and as needing to have very strong, rigid, distanced boundaries. In general it is assumed that they need DBT rather than talk therapy, and that the last thing a t wants is to have the client get attached. But of course insecure attachment is really common with BPD. So I have no clue why that is a standard, except that the theory is that allowing a BPD client to become attached is inviting things like stalking and obsession with the t. I am not a treatment provider, nor do I have that diagnosis so I am speaking from hearsay and I don't know that this shift if treatment is a good or bad thing, other than the clients seem to suffer when the t is not receptive to the attachment.

Well, now... "that's interesting.... very interesting." So basically you end up with non-BPD folks misdiagnosed getting the therapy style I would vastly prefer, and I'm likely to get stuck in a room with someone who wants to torture me with talk for 50 minutes and then execute me with a hug at the end.

Ok, I'm having a dark sense of humor this morning....

You'd think a therapist should volunteer that information about a bpd diag as soon as it causes them to alter their treatment approach, letting the talk relationship assumption meander across that boundary seems like asking for trouble.

My T didn't diagnose me until 2-3 months into my sessions. She was more attentive and listening before then and she contributed her thoughts. The day she diagnosed me that told me she was very serious. She was telling me as if it wa at his horrific thing. I didn't quite understand what she was labeling me with at the time. I was clueless. Before she even somewhat explained what this diagnosis was she told me how it's one of the worst diagnosis you could have and how therapists don't want to deal with such client. I researched it and disagreed with her and then from there on everything went down hill. If I discussed a scenario or an incident regardless of the fact I was wrong and everyone else involved was correct because I'm seeing things in a distorted fashion because of my diagnosis. I felt as if I had to prove myself and show evidence but certain things I didn't want to completely share so I couldn't help her see things differently. She was afraid of me. I would walk in the room and she would look scared as if I was about to attack her. One day I came in and she was sitting. I was about to take a seat as I'm explaining something that's bothering me and liked afraid and told me to take a seat. She kept a bigger distance between us. I felt alienated and almost contagious. I did bring it up and I told her that I've never hurt anyone in my life but that didn't matter. She used to accept texts and emails and then she was bothered by it. Anything I said according to her it wasn't a big deal and I was being extreme. She minimized everything. It was hurtful and frustrating .wheneevr I would tell her something should tell me that she couldn't believe that such a person would do such things and that I'm viewing things in a distorted fashion due to my diagnosis. She would often throw out and say "that's your bpd". The funny thing is that I did disagree with my diagnosis but even if it was true she never tried to gear me in the right direction with it. I felt like I didn't matter and at times when things were getting seriously bad in my life and I was suicidal and my coping skills were horrible she would treat it as me being extreme. The fourth year into my session I think she figured that I wasn't going to physically hurt her which was good because that was making me feel so uncomfortable. I don't think her approach worked or perhaps there was a bigger master plan she was going to implement at some time. I'm not sure but yes being labeled didn't help
My case at all.

I was diagnosed with bpd. My T allowed texts and emails. I didn't agree with my diagnosis 100%. When i saw that my T kept a distance and stopped emailing and texting I then started distancing myself. Since I was young I've never like to be where I'm not wanted and will remove myself quickly from the scenario in order to make the other person comfortable and let them do their thing. Then because she labeled me with bpd I had to make sure that I kept an extra distance in all ways. I only saw her once a week and if I thought that I was getting on nerves or she seemed disinterested I would cancel in order to give her breathing room. They was the end result. I didn't want to be attached and I didn't stalk her or obsessed over her. I just wanted to be treated like a normal person.

Of you were bpd you'd not be able to consider how you might be affecting someone else. Believe me. I'd cross that dx off your list. My sons ex girlfriend had bpd, Man oh man. Keeping her distance wasn't possible. Totally maniputive.

I was appreciative of the first group of MDD, GAD, and PTSD, and a few years later even relieved by the Avoidant Personality Disorder tag from a new therapist. I didn't anything about any of them, and they fit my experiences. But between those diagnoses came one pdoc who, after less than 15 minutes with me, was firm on Bipolar II. I hated it. A lot of fear and confusion came out. Current T seems annoyed by how disturbed I am by that label, but I am still struggling to shake the self-loathing and denial, especially since no one wants to completely rule it out.