Diagnoses

[Dee]

Does anyone else care about what they are diagnosed?  I don't ever discuss it in therapy.  I feel lately like people are investigating and not being open.  I know I have CPTSD, Anorexia, MDD, and Self Injurious Behavior.   However, none of his has been discussed, it is in my record.  I feel like they are looking for a dissociative disorder and not telling me.  I suppose the label doesn't matter, but for some reason it does to me.  I don't know why, I just want to know.

I should add I know I have a dissociative disorder, but unclear which one.  This is what is bothering me right now.

[Blackbird]

My old psychiatrist didn't like to diagnose me, he thought I had BPD (he said it once) along with schizophrenia/schizoaffective he was not sure - I had a major psychotic break three years ago.

After a long while (2 years) of profound mood swings and nightmares, flashbacks and ruminations I decided to go a different psychiatrist to get a third evaluation (the first was in the hospital but I was too out there to answer the questions correctly, so it didn't mean much).

So, my third and current psychiatrist understands that I like the labels but told me especifically that she likes to treat symtpoms. She works closely with my therapist and together, and with me, we figure out what I need medication or therapy for. 

But I'm very lucky, I'm aware this scenario is not available for everyone.

[Slow River]

My therapist told me that I have PTSD, but I don't meet all the the official DSM criteria.  So, in a sense, technically, I don't have PTSD.  (Seems like nothing in my life is ever straightforward!)  However, I think that a lot of emotional and mental conditions are like that -- the "official" version is defined, but people don't always fit neatly into the strict categories. 

Could it be that your therapists are not making a specific diagnosis because you, as a human being, don't fit the criteria just right, even though you still have the issues involved?

Also, I encourage you to directly ask any questions that you have about your diagnosis, treatment, care, etc.  I often feel that the thing that helps most in my recovery is understanding what is going on.

[Three Roses]

Slow River - you likely don't have PTSD, more likely CPTSD. Complex PTSD is different than (simple) PTSD, and is not yet in the DSM as a stand-alone disorder but is lumped in with PTSD.

CPTSD is more common and has different symptoms. The word "Complex" doesn't refer to difficulty, it means the injuries were multiple, interpersonal, and inescapable. Our flashbacks differ from the PTSD type.

If you'd like more information to provide your health care team (and also arm yourself with more info! ), here's a link to done downloadable documents - http://www.outofthestorm.website/downloads/

Dee - sorry for the hijack. For me, it doesn't matter what label they give me. They could tell me I have Billy Bob Thornton disorder but as long as I'm getting better, I don't care. That's just a label aimed at making their discussions easier. Thought I'd throw in my 2 cents

[woodsgnome]

All I know is the label's effects seem to vary. On the whole, though, it helps to have a structure one can grasp when considering what's going on.

Personally, I have a resistance to labels, though. In part this may be due to a T I once had who did everything possible to fit my story into her preconceived ideas; mainly her patented/copyrighted graduate thesis which she could never let go of. If it wasn't in her work, it didn't exist. I left when this became more of a problem than a help in dealing with my real life.

In retrospect it was funny the lengths she'd go to fit me into her catch-all notions, but at her price it was unfair too--clients deserve to be treated as human, not just objects for a game board; which is what it felt like.

That said, once I read Walker's book I knew cptsd was the likely label for what I'd experienced. My current T agrees, but she participates with regard to what seems best for me, too, not just because it fits some pre-determined direction due only to the labeling. We both know it fits, but let it ride more in the background of what we actually share and choose to work with.

[Dee]

I am not normally into labels, but this is a major therapeutic change I think.  Yes, I have CPTSD and anorexia among other things.  I don't care much what it is called.

However, I believe they are trying to figure out if I have DDNOS or DID.  This is major and I'm getting questions about if I remember things.  About things I do, when I do it, how I dress, if my hair is permed or natural - when I have said it is natural.  I'm feeling a bit like a science experiment.

Also now, I am super nervous because I wrote a letter explaining my therapist when I was 18.  She did diagnosis me with MPD, but she also said she would be my mom, my kids grandmother, took me to movies, let me live with her.....  I never put much into it until now.  I wrote in my letter I disagreed with it then and now.

[mourningdove]

i don't like any diagnoses that erase what happened to me. So for example, I don't want to hear about any depression or anxiety diagnoses, because, for me, those things are symptoms of complex trauma.

PTSD, C-PTSD, and dissociative disorder diagnoses don't bother me so much, because there is a built-in understanding that these terms describe conditions that have been caused by trauma.

[Candid]

What may I have been misdiagnosed with?

Renowned traumatologist, John Briere, is said to have quipped that if Complex PTSD were ever given its due – that is, if the role of dysfunctional parenting in adult psychological disorders was ever fully recognized -- the DSM (The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders used by all mental health professionals) would shrink to the size of a thin pamphlet. It currently resembles a large dictionary. In my experience, many clients with Complex PTSD have been misdiagnosed with various anxiety and depressive disorders, as well as bipolar, narcissistic, codependent and borderline disorders. Further confusion arises in the case of ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder), as well as obsessive/compulsive disorder, which is sometimes more accurately described  as an excessive, fixated flight response to trauma. This is also true of ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) and some dissociative disorders which are similarly excessive, fixated freeze responses to trauma.
~ http://pete-walker.com/fAQsComplexPTSD.html

I would add schizoaffective disorder and paranoia. If we believed we lived in a friendly world many of us wouldn't have survived childhood; and if we didn't wind up in psych wards now and again... we'd have to be crazy!

I had plenty of labels and mismedications before a trauma specialist diagnosed CPTSD. Know-it-all psychiatrists have tried to put other labels on me, but I know my own 'stuff' and all my dysfunction stems from severe childhood wounding. Thanks, Mother.

HINT: Avoid reading/hearing what the 'experts' have made of you if you possibly can.