Our partner

Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Avoidant Personality Disorder message board, open discussion, and online support group.

Moderator: lilyfairy

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby PaperHeart » Wed Jul 08, 2015 12:15 am

I wonder which is more accurate. Not sure of other people's experiences in the UK but all the doctors and counsellor's I've seen (and its at least a dozen for extended periods) never mentioned personality disorders or any mental health label other than depression or generalized anxiety despite how I'd claim to have something and a pre-written essay for why I think I had it. It's not a quote but something a quack said to me when trying to force a diagnosis - "I don't want to put you into a group where you relate in many areas but not quite others and with that you mite even adopt these other traits you didn't have but came to under the thought you ARE this diagnosis when really its far more complex than that" Whats cemented my self-diagnosis I have AvPD is how much I relate to the users here.
You cut up a thing that's alive and beautiful to find out how it's alive and why it's beautiful, and before you know it, it's neither of those things, and you're standing there with blood on your face and tears in your sight and only the terrible ache of guilt to show for it.

<-Always open to PM->
PaperHeart
Consumer 1
Consumer 1
 
Posts: 33
Joined: Thu May 22, 2014 11:49 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)


ADVERTISEMENT

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby Me two » Wed Jul 08, 2015 8:07 am

^what they said.

here you're lucky to get past doctor level. and general practitioners... meh the clue is in the title. I saw a therapist for a year and for me it was the biggest waste of time. I wasn't actually addressing anything to do with avpd and was hiding that whole aspect of myself away from him. also caused a lot of anxiety to have to go talk to someone for an hour. he did lots of tests can't remember which, not dsm, I had extreme results and was really looking for a badge diagnosis, like oh this is what you have but it was inconclusive. no mention of pds. plus I refused to talk about my childhood or parents as that's a total cliche, however that would have been the most beneficial. stumbled upon avpd and was absolutely stoked. so I am self-labelled, and correctly so, as I don't need someone who is really bad at their job to tell me what is wrong with me when I don't even express the full picture and they have limited knowledge based on which books they got their degree with. mostly. in my opinion.
INTP AvPD
It does get easier...
User avatar
Me two
Consumer 3
Consumer 3
 
Posts: 78
Joined: Tue Dec 23, 2014 1:09 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby jawila » Wed Jul 08, 2015 3:10 pm

Me two wrote:^what they said.

here you're lucky to get past doctor level. and general practitioners... meh the clue is in the title. I saw a therapist for a year and for me it was the biggest waste of time. I wasn't actually addressing anything to do with avpd and was hiding that whole aspect of myself away from him. also caused a lot of anxiety to have to go talk to someone for an hour. he did lots of tests can't remember which, not dsm, I had extreme results and was really looking for a badge diagnosis, like oh this is what you have but it was inconclusive. no mention of pds. plus I refused to talk about my childhood or parents as that's a total cliche, however that would have been the most beneficial. stumbled upon avpd and was absolutely stoked. so I am self-labelled, and correctly so, as I don't need someone who is really bad at their job to tell me what is wrong with me when I don't even express the full picture and they have limited knowledge based on which books they got their degree with. mostly. in my opinion.


I think it depends on the doctor. There are some very good ones out there that can accurately diagnose and really help out, but you have to search them out. I got both of my diagnosis from psychiatrists that teach at a university. I've also seen several nurse-practitioners that never came close to a correct dx.

I've spent my whole adult life hiding my extreme shyness, even from these pdocs. It took a good one to find the AvPD, despite myself.


-- Wed Jul 08, 2015 9:20 am --

lilyfairy wrote:I was clinically diagnosed a few years ago. Initially they thought BPD, and social phobia. The social phobia, yes, and I have BPD traits, (and some very strong Dependent PD traits) but the AvPD has become clearer and clearer as time's gone on.


There does seem to be some crossover/blending. I have some paranoid and OCD stuff going on, but not enough for another dx. This stuff is complicated!
Dx: Bipolar II and AvPD

Rx: Latuda 40mg
User avatar
jawila
Consumer 0
Consumer 0
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Jun 20, 2015 5:31 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby Parador » Thu Jul 09, 2015 7:23 pm

Both. Kind of. The mental health morons don't really care about an exact diagnosis. They got things wrong all the time. In fact the hospital where I was locked up got found guilty of violating patients civil rights a decade after I was released. One of the findings by the justice department was that they gave patients inappropriate diagnoses. They had me down for schizophrenia, or delusional disorder and general anxiety disorder or social anxiety disorder and / or avpd.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast.
User avatar
Parador
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 5522
Joined: Wed Apr 11, 2007 7:54 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby monbleu » Sun Jul 12, 2015 2:32 pm

I am self diagnosed. I've found that, at least in my country, you'll only be diagnosed with "common" mental illnesses. I've been told I have depression (a result of the AvPD), anxiety (ditto), social anxiety disorder (unsure about this), borderline personality disorder (almost laughed when I read that that was what one Dr diagnosed me with), and just 'personality disorder'.
I've come to the realisation that we know ourselves better than anybody. And doctors aren't special, they just have a larger than average knowledge about things (to be simple).
monbleu
Consumer 0
Consumer 0
 
Posts: 10
Joined: Fri Mar 06, 2015 5:04 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 7:40 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby FragranceOfLilac » Mon Jul 20, 2015 3:42 am

When I first went to a psychologist he behaved like a clown, but we talked for a while and eventually he told me that I have something more serious than he can work with. He told me to go to another psychologist that specializes in personality disorders and suggested that maybe I'll need to visit a psychiatrist, too.

So I went to that other psychologist. At first she told me that it's unlikely it's a personality disorder, but later I learnt why. She thought I'd freak out and lose all hope. I was still diagnosed with depression and AVpD, although she took pains to tell me that the latter is an exaggerated diagnosis. "Don't be afraid, don't worry", she said. The reason is that I hid a lot of stuff from her initially and explained it by saying that I didn't want to appear crazy. She took it to heart. But she was mistaken, for me it was a relief to be diagnosed, at least now I can put all blame on the disorder and not on me just being a naturally deficient human being.

It's kind of hard to misdiagnose, I guess, so I'm sure the diagnosis is right. My case is rather severe and impairs basic social functions I don't even leave home and was locked up at home for many years. I fear people horribly, misinterprete how they react to me, can't start relationships, etc, and those traits can be traced back to the earliest childhood memories.

P.S. Depression was a lot more complicated diagnosis, and even now I don't know what kind of depression it is. I had depressive traits from early on, then crisis, then years of mild depression, etc. For now organic causes are suspected for it, rather than mental, because I have troubles with brain and was misgiagnosed in childhood with epilepsy, then with migraine, then something else until they found out that it's a blood vessel trouble.
Mixed personality disorder (avoidant, depressive) and depression. Official DX.
FragranceOfLilac
Consumer 5
Consumer 5
 
Posts: 154
Joined: Wed Jun 24, 2015 9:05 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 12:40 pm
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby Aloe vera » Thu Jul 30, 2015 4:56 am

I'm self-diagnosed with AvPD. I mentioned it to a therapist of mine once. He said that it sounds just like me, but that he won't diagnose me with it because he believes I can get better. Maybe I should be happy about that. Personally though, I find it #######5. I want to be able to pinpoint my issues and wholeheartedly know that I'm one of you the way I feel like I am.
You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Aloe vera
Consumer 0
Consumer 0
 
Posts: 11
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2015 3:38 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby jkxxster » Fri Jul 31, 2015 8:36 pm

Self-diagnosed at first then confirmed by a psychologist and a psychiatrist. Overall story was similar to several posted here already.

The reason is that I hid a lot of stuff from her initially and explained it by saying that I didn't want to appear crazy. She took it to heart. But she was mistaken, for me it was a relief to be diagnosed, at least now I can put all blame on the disorder and not on me just being a naturally deficient human being.


I used to think this way (I *NEED* to be "normal" in order to do thing X that other people do that I can't, otherwise...) but later had some experiences which changed it somewhat. Being diagnosed does give us access to relating to others with the same troubles but there is a separate angle too, something like, "Do I accept myself as I am right now" and if not, what would make it so (and forget all these other things that we would then need to do). I've come to think this is a shorter route to "fixing" the problem than trying to do fix everything before we can feel OK.

Of course these are just my musings and not intended to upset anyone, so apologies in advance if they do.
User avatar
jkxxster
Consumer 5
Consumer 5
 
Posts: 182
Joined: Fri Apr 04, 2014 11:56 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 3:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby brainpan » Fri Jul 31, 2015 10:09 pm

When I first heard about APD I looked into it. First I did one of those on line tests relating to the disorder and scored 97 out of a hundred.
I read up some more and read several pages about its symptoms. finding so much that I could relate to that I felt like I was reading my own biography!
Now in the last month I have been clinically diagnosed with it and also show many symptoms of Schizotypal Personality Disorder as well. Although that has not been diagnosed officially. Which doesn't surprise me at all, as there are many similarities between the two.
brainpan
Consumer 3
Consumer 3
 
Posts: 73
Joined: Sat Jul 03, 2010 12:50 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 9:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

Re: Are you clinically or self diagnosed?

Postby Casper » Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:38 pm

I was clinically diagnosed with AvPD, BPD and PTSD. Prior to being diagnosed, I hadn't even heard of AvPD or BPD - I just thought it was called "being shy" and "being moody."
Casper
Consumer 6
Consumer 6
 
Posts: 3244
Joined: Fri May 27, 2011 3:17 pm
Local time: Fri Mar 29, 2024 4:40 am
Blog: View Blog (0)

PreviousNext

Return to Avoidant Personality Disorder Forum




  • Related articles
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 11 guests