do you find your diagnosis/diagnoses helpful?

[Alameda]

I've had a long and embittered relationship with mine (bipolar) although now it is more widely known and people have an idea of what it means (I'd never heard of it before some doctors started discussing it with me in hospital, thought I had some sort of endocrinological or kidney disease) it has its uses.

this article looks very quickly at the role of diagnostic criteria in shaping our experience of mental distress but doesn't really go far enough. Just wondering if others feel a bit constricted by having a label or whether it's a useful way of making sense of your feelings and experiences

[elvispelvis]

I don't really have a diagnosis. I do not really fit any of them and psychiatrists keep on changing it. I have read the descriptions of all of them, and they do describe me but on teh other they do not. I would like to have a diagnosis just to know what's wrong with me. I suspect I have munchausen syndrome atm.

[Alameda]

Munchausens would be an interesting one to have!

I hate how immutable diagnoses are once they're made, nobody will ever change them or take them away. What would be so wrong with just treating your actual symptoms as and when they occur instead of always viewing everything you do and everything you say through their bipolarscope or whatever.

[WithanAnotE]

I guess (in theory) it makes a difference to what meds and doses are prescribed. However, therapists get in on the act too and seem to have a penchant for 'diagnosing' personality structures, particularly using questionnaire driven assessments. I think the headline act (eg bipolar I / II, unipolar/depression) gets communicated to patients but I get quite cross that the 'personality' type / structure and 'labelling' often isn't. 

[Crawling]

I found mine (scizoaffective/bipolar1) very useful because it means im not a bad person the reason i suddenly change and hurt everyone is cus im manic. It also enabled me to understand my very confused feelings over sex as I lost my virginity aged 13 on my first psychotic manic episode because voices told me too i then in the space of a week slept with 3 more and when i returned to normal felt sick, used and kept having flashbacks which confused me as I gave 'consent'.

I also heard voices so much (even outside episodes ) that I believed them even when. I was fully sane as I had no other explanation. It also explained how I could go from top of my year in all subjects a straight A student to barely understanding basic maths and English when I was unwell. For me it also helped me to cope with my illness and remain stable better now I understand. But mostly to try to ignore a blood clot I feel moving up my leg instead of trying to cut it out, to ignore voices that tell me to cut or burn my skin that im fat so throw up my food or that people are talking about me. My label lets me understand how and why im different and to cope and manage my illness.

[Alameda]

good to hear it is helpful for you crawling

what do you mean by that, personality structure not being communicated, WithanAnotE?

[SirBoobAlot]

I have Borderline Personality Disorder / Emotional Intensity Disorder. Knowing that has helped me. I found it frustrating in the years before, when my then useless psych seemed to be wanting to try out every title on me. In the end I did my own research, found that I fitted with BPD, and when I transferred to the adult team out of CAMHS, it was written as suspected on my notes. They didn't confirm the diagnosis formally until I was 19, I think.

It was a huge relief. Not only does it mean I have a reason for my behaviors, it means I have an explanation for other people. It also has made it easier for me to process myself.

I used to feel very negatively towards the whole idea of labeling people, but there is a difference for me between labeling and knowing. Its also helped me be more honest about my condition, which in turn has helped me work towards getting a grip on things.

[WithanAnotE]

SirBoobAlot a lot of your comments resonate with me. I haven't been told what my label is but, as it has been suggested I attend DBT, Mr. Google suggests BPD!
Certainly a number of the features I can relate too, particularly around inappropriate intensity of emotions. Wise words, "there is a difference for me between labeling and knowing". 

[weegiemum]

Like sirboob I have BPD. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me, getting the diagnosis, because it explained all my random, weird behaviours.

It means I know why I occasionally abuse alcohol, why I get stupidly angry, why I hate my (lovely amazing fantastic tolerant) dh going to work.

Now I know the issues, I can deal with them, and with the help of my psychologist, I am. I'm thankful on a daily basis that he diagnosed me!

[thundernlightning]

Like Weegiemum getting a diagnosis (OCD) made my life better. When I got my diagnosis it made me feel like I had power over what was happening in my head and the rituals that were destroying my life. It gave me a way to name the problem and fight it.

[weegiemum]

Power is the right word!

I can name it, so I can fight it. It no longer rules me!!

[SirBoobAlot]

I didn't realise you were BPD as well weegie :)

If you get the opportunity, get yourself on to a course called STEPPS. It really is changing my life. I'm just over half way now, and already seeing benefits from it, although I still explode sometimes etc.