How do you feel about living with a diagnosis?

Hello everyone,

I am wondering how you feel about living with a diagnosis or multiple diagnoses. We know that for people to be assessed or receive treatment, they need at least one diagnosis for billing codes etc. But I am curious if anyone feels that a mental health diagnosis has affected them in other ways. Or has it not affected you at all? Ambivalent?

Well... although I kicked around the mental health system where I live for around 15 years or so before I finally kissed it all good-bye, I never did receive anything in the way of a diagnosis. I suppose there was something written down somewhere for insurance purposes... probably depression. But it really wasn't based on anything of any consequence... just something to plug into the appropriate box in order to get paid.

I often wish I had been given a genuine diagnosis... not that it would have made any real difference in the whole scheme of things. But it would have been nice to have something to hang my hat on, so to speak... something I could perhaps lean on to explain all of the confusion & ugliness of my life. If nothing else it would have given me a basis for knowing which forum to post in here on PC!

Anyway... it's all water over the dam now. Yet I still find myself, from time-to-time, musing over the possibility of finally being able to come to an understanding with regard to what it was all about. (Desperately Seeking Sigmund Freud)

Thank you for sharing Skeezkys. I understand what you are saying. I think it's never too late. If you ever decide that you'd like to open up again to a therapist and hash some things out, you may be amazed by what you discover. Just my thoughts. Peace to you and thanks for contributing.

I've had a diagnosis of bipolar since 2012, and was diagnosed bipolar 1 in 2014. I still question the label, even though I know intellectually that it's the right one for me. I wondered for most of my life what was wrong with me, and why I struggled so much in life. The label gave me something I could point to as a reason for so much of what I've experienced---the highs, the lows, the joy, the pain, the wonder, the sheer intensity of it all...sometimes overwhelming, but (almost) always worthwhile.

I don’t know how I feel. I dislike it.

for me, honestly, one of the things getting diagnosed did for me was make me feel less alone

when I was a child, and all these things were going on with me, I used to think at the end of the day, well, I must be the only person in the world with this stuff going on, and honestly it was a really lonely feeling

trying to explain things to people and they were like what?. I don't get it

when I got a diagnoses, at least I had something. an explanation for my behaviour, more understanding, I'd even go as far to say that some people respected me more because I was able to explain myself and what was going on, rather than just, " I don't know."

their's plenty of bad things about it- the stigma for one, the fact that in my case I'll never be able to work, the hospital visits, the fact I dropped out of school, but I think I'd rather live with one than without.

it's helped me understand me better and know where I'm at

without it, (and all these things going on), I'm not sure I'd be able to cope

I should add that people have asked me if their was a cure, a miracle that would take it all away, would I do it.

and no, I wouldn't

it's part of me now and I've learned to live with it

I have had some negative experiences with doctor's not believing me once they find out I have bipolar. It used to be worse though years ago.

The labels helped me in certain aspects - getting on disability easily (it was very helpful for the 8 years I was on it), receiving accommodations when necessary in college. In these practical aspects, the labels helped.

Aside from that, I don't put much weight on my labels. My "official" diagnoses are Bipolar Disorder and OCD, but it doesn't really change who I am. I'm just someone who has lived experience with mental health issues. I think my lived experience will be an asset in the Social Work field.

It seems like a double-edged sword to me. It can feel isolating to manage things on your own. But the diagnosis tends to carry such a stigma.

I think that's common (negative experiences)

I've had a few with so called therapists

Remember that you're all wonderful people, diagnosis or not! You're all much, much more than your own labels, although labels can be useful sometimes to get the help and treatment you need and deserve and to find other people who are struggling and share things with them. I have never received a proper diagnosis, like Skeezyks has already wisely said, although I do take meds. I guess not much has changed for me. Keep fighting everyone! You're all strong, wonderful people! You're all awesome! You're all strong! You're all warriors! Sending many hugs to all of you

After experiencing several severe traumas, I was diagnosed as suffering from Complex PTSD, and for the last 30 years it has been an agonising journey back to being able to live in the world.

The initial Diagnosing/Labelling most certainly caused problems when seeking treatment for non related physical ailments, as most doctors over the years would right off my pain or symptoms as depression, anxiety or psychosomatic.

I have drawers full of unopened bottles & boxes of anti this, anti that....Numerous unfilled prescriptions for all manner of (just quit complaining & get out of my office) drugs from doctors who simply refused to look past my PTSD Diagnosis. After banging my head against a brick wall for many years, I have now finally started being treated for advanced Lung disease...along with several sinister secondary conditions due to non treatment for so long.

Unfortunately so many doctors have this misguided belief that Mental Illness = Untrustworthy. Hopefully one day all doctors will open their eyes to view the Mental Health patient as a whole person, and not just a problem that they would rather not have to deal with.

these are great words

I think too often so many of us forget as we deal with so much

A diagnosis means for me is a way for others to treat me professionally. Medications, therapy etc. It's something to write on a form for insurance. Can't get insurance without these labels.

Yet I dont often think about the labels each day. It's the physical manifestations that have my attention. Stuttering or spasms or vocal changes etc. In my head i don't think of my label. I'm trying to survive each day. It's a bonus to have a shower. It's a bonus to go outside.

The general population doesn't much care or understand about diagnoses. Except to label a person when they do something wrong as mentally ill. What ever happened to being mad, sad or bad?

There could be worse things. I like that getting disability was easier. I don't like that it limits me. I try not to let it but in some ways it really does.

I agree with Aviza I tend to let the diagnosis limit me sometimes. I view it as a preexisting condition and a sickness. Even though I am stable my point of view is that I'm sick. I end up trying to deal with that too.

Up to my early twenties, I just thought I was weird. I guess it was while reading an article about depression in a women's magazine that I realized "depressed," as the article explained it, was a word that described me. Before that, I knew I was unhappy a lot. I figured I was just unhappy because I was weird. Then I started to understand that my problem was not unique . . . that this was a condition others experienced and that they felt similar to how I felt. I think it became easier to think about my problem when I could name it.

I had thought my problem was that I was unlike other people. I've learned that the experience of being depressed is amazingly similar among depressed people. PC forums provide lots of evidence of that. After reading the article, I started talking to doctors about how I was not doing well in life. They told me I was depressed. I had thought I was some kind of freak . . . like a mutant . . . that my mind just didn't operate like a normal human mind. The truth is that depression is profoundly human; I am human. I'm not the first of some new species on the evolutionary tree. I actually have an awful lot in common with an awful lot of other people. I thought that was good to know.

I do believe we have over-medicalized "problems of living."

My diagnosis is recurrent major depression. Actually, I think of depression as a symptom. To say I'm sad because I'm depressed is circular thinking. I would say I'm depressed because my approach to life isn't working well for me.

I have a very different way of conceptualizing psychological pain. I think a mood disorder is seldom primary. Rather, I think a mood disorder is a manifestation of something else. That something else, IMO, is a personality disorder or what used to be called a "neurosis."

I look at personality disorders differently from most people. I think they are way more common amongst the psychologically afflicted than we admit. People don't like to be diagnosed with personality disorders. That is the real stigma that I would like to get rid of. People would rather say, "I have PTSD." or "I have bipolar disorder." than consider that they have an axis 2 problem. This is vanity, IMHO. The former problems are seen as "Something bad happened to me." while the latter is seen as "I am bad."

The Holy Grail in psychiatry that most patients are looking for is: "It's not your fault." That's why we get so enamored of "chemical imbalances" and "chromosomal aberrations" and "amygdala-altering traumas." If my problem is physiological, then it's "not my fault."

I don't think a personality disorder is any more an individual's fault, than is a mood disorder. When a person has a durable, maladaptive pattern of behavior (the basic definition of a per. disorder,) there is a story behind that which is just as deserving of compassion as having been a trauma victim. Sometimes, part of the story is that the person has embraced some bad ideas, not understanding that they are bad ideas. Sometimes the problem is in the mind, rather than in the brain.

What has happened, I believe, is that the purveyors of psychiatric services and the consumers of the same are complicit in the perpetuation of a grand delusion: Being "mentally ill" means one is innocent. Our modern, guilt-averse mindset means we lust for justification. People "believe" in modern psychiatry because it tells them that they are suffering from "what was done to them, or what happened to them," rather than from who they are. In exchange, psych-professionals get to earn their livelihoods peddling a lot of pseudo-scientific interventions that don't really help people. It's mutual delusion.

This grand collusion-in-delusion is not serving us well. We end up talking out of both sides of our mouths and making all manner of assertions that can't be sustained simultaneously: "The serial killer must be mentally ill." "If you do a heinous crime because you are mentally ill, then you are not, necessarily, a bad person." "So nobody is bad; people who do bad things are just sick." "There would be no evil in the world, if everyone had enough healthcare to treat all their problems." "There is no such thing as evil. There is just too much untreated illness." "I can't help the way I am because I was abused by others during childhood." "If I abuse another person, it's because I am sick; if another abuses me, it's because they are evil." "I had to go on disability because I have a mental illness, not because I wasn't an excellent employee - which I was." "I can't sustain a relationship because everyone I meet turns out to be a narcissist, which is so unfair, when you consider how perfect I happen to be." "I wouldn't have an anger problem, if people would just stop pi$$ing me off." "How can I possibly have courage, when I am made to feel unsafe?" "You would agree with me, if you just understood that things are the way I say they are." "My humility helps me get along with inferior people." "How can I work with a therapist who wants me to change, instead of respecting who I am?" "I think my life will change for the better, now that I've found a therapist who approves of how I've been doing things." "I'm glad the doctor told me I have a mental illness. Otherwise, I was beginning to think there was something wrong with me." "I don't mind constructive feedback, as long as you don't trigger me with criticism." "The only time I get triggered is when someone says something I don't like."

Maybe we are all equally blameless . . . equally innocent. Maybe we are all doing the best we know how. Maybe it just seems like others have despicable faults, while we ourselves merely make mistakes, or breakdown under intolerable stress.

Wow, yup.

Of course, not all, but I fear far far too much. I also feel that this "lack of blame" also assists with other professions. Thus the criminal justice system can avoid blame if a psych-professional tells them what to do. And the psych-professional bears no responsibility if they are wrong. So we have locked ourselves in a blameless situation if someone innocent gets hurt.