Does a diagnosis really help?

Hi @DefiantPanda. 🙂

I understand your ambivalent feelings about diagnoses and I have back and forth feelings about this question too. I probably wouldn't have accepted a diagnosis of bipolar except that my life was really out of control and my survival seemed to depend on it. The diagnosis seems to help me to know that there is at least some explanation for the problems I encounter. The things I experience are then not so much of a surprise as they once were and that may help me deal with them better. I still tend to fear I'm just a bad person sometimes. This is a general self esteem issue I think. Guilt is something I find very easy to do whether or not there is anything to feel bad about. Maybe it helps to just know that about myself, maybe takes the pressure off a bit. I think I'm starting to ramble. I don't have an answer to your question but it's interesting and I'm listening.

I don't think you're rambling, I found your answer interesting too. Excess guilt and shame seem to be common for those with any mental illness and I guess there's no surefire way to know when it's too much apart from experience. Thanks for answering 😃

I have thought about this question alot too... I felt sick and so upset when i first got 'diagnosed' with PTSD and it was written down. For me I had this idea in my head that if i had that then i'd failed somehow. That it was the end of.... something.. the world maybe 😄 As a teacher I've always been very wary of labels... i find that lots of people start looking through a specific lens when they read or are told that a child has such and such... forgetting that that is only one portion of what makes up the child as a whole... But as a teacher i'm also very keen to get as much information as I can to actively and specifically help a child int he most useful way specifically for them.. so there are times that a diagnosis can be really useful. And i feel the same way about myself I gues, i've learnt a lot about the various diagnoses that I have.. but most of the time I ignore the overall label and focus on the 'symptoms' that are disrupting my life. I think as well that with mental health in particular no two people are exactly the same inhow they react to things even though symptoms are similar... so focussing on my current needs is kind of making it relevant to me and keeping me somewhat 'out of the box'...

Hope a bit of that made sense!

LJ

Yeah the symptoms are what disrupt your life, that's for sure.

I guess dealing with the symptoms is more of a therapy kind of thing, or at least, a self help kind of thing. And very useful.

Of course it made sense, I'm just happy to have other people to talk to about this stuff 😃

Its a good topic. For some a diagnosis helps for some it seems to hinder.

@Mazarita's point about being less surprised when bad stuff happens is important.

The feeling of being a bad person is hard .. I struggle with it when I struggle with directing my anger into positive things like digging in the garden or cleaning the house etc

The idea that the pressure is lessened by a diagnosis (or that self-blame for not trying enough is lessened) is good too..

I have been thinking the same thing for myself ... trying to get an accurate diagnosis, and tap into better suited support for my condition or symptom.Or am I just pathologising things ... I dont know.

My jitteriness and suicidal ideation does not seem to go away but recurs. Some people with BPD say they have stopped having those issues... maybe good treatment actually works .. so then there is a purpose to diagnosis.

We all do have to come to acceptance of who are regardless.

@Appleblossom yes I think if there is a particular treatment for your condition that you can only get by having that diagnosis then for sure it is good. But for say something like schizophrenia I don't know if there is anything that great around at the moment. I listen to podcasts on 'All in the mind' from abc and they suggest that there are some treatments for it but I have no idea if those are available to the mainstream. The other thing is I could be totally wrong here about what I think I have...

@Crazy_Bug_Lady once upon a time they thought cancer was contagious, and they used to treat people with schizophrenia in a less than ideal way from what I've read and heard. Thankfully it seems to have gotten a bit better. I think it should be remedied quickly so that people can get the help they need without having to feel victimised, which just feeds into their illness even more.

I'm really sorry to hear about the negativity. It really doesn't help anyone.

I'm still going to be thinking about this for a long time I think. There are so many pros and cons to it.

I really appreciate hearing other people's take on it though. It helps me to know others have struggled with it too.

I think it is a great thing to think about and not be too black and white in your thinking. All the good professionals in the field are aware of various spectrums of mental illness or the human condition. And yes there is a huge range in quality of treatment.

I guess I have been thinking about and then researching this stuff since 1970 when I first visited my father in hospital .. he was diagnosed with schizophrenia ... then 20 years later I read in my state ward file that mum also was diagnosed with schizophrenia .. but they were quite unique people with different cultural backgrounds .. so different etiology or causes ... you are right things were bad and still need to change

I had a 40% chance of developing it myself but somehow ... have not. My sister did have schizophrenic like symptoms but did not last long enough to fight through it ... mum put too many guilt trips on her about sex ...I married a man who had been medicated for schizophrenia for 8 years and he managed to "overcome" it and has not relapsed and been off meds for 20 years. He says it was just drug induced ... and shrugs it off ... but he was also crazier than my father and my sister from my experience ... so what does it all mean ...

My ex husband came from a well to do family was treated in the MAYO clinic and had access to all the latest and best treatments and forms of psychotherapy available. It was good in that it made me more aware of different options than I would have from my very stigmatised and poor family. If it were truly "genetic" my son would have been diagnosed with schizophrenia ... but has not ... there is still so much they do not know about the body and health generally.

I respect both the Judaeochristian bible and the DSM bible but take them both with a hefty grain of salt.

Good Luck with your own considerations.

Hi @DefiantPanda

I am one of those people who has always embraced my diagnoses. I loved being able to recognise myself and relate to the descriptio,I loved knowing that there was a name for what I experienced, I loved the sensation of ground under my feet: it gave me a place to stand while I worked things out. I have always felt like "other", like I wasn't quite right and didn't fit in. Lost and on the outside, my reactions to the world were always wrong. Each diagnosis explained a little more, included me in another group of people who could understand, gave me a label that wasnt just being wrong or bad or a failure.

They also allowed me to learn and Learn, and learn about my conditions, and to work on them, trying out all kinds of different approaches over the last 25 years. Learning what worked for me, getting a solid repertoire of coping mechanisms, getting help and support in places like this.

My most recent diagnosis of being on the Autism Spectrum has been genuinely life changing in an incredibly positive way.