Check in: Time to diagnosis?

ColouredLeaves wrote:So not including the neurologist I saw for "epilepsy," 5 years in mental health system, but then it was revoked so how do you measure that?

Going by practice described in the literature, start 1989 with the neurologist and missed diagnosis, end in 2006 with the DID diagnosis, so 17 years. To revoke a dx takes more than a "first look" opinion, it takes going through a full differential diagnostic procedure to rule out the dx.

Brainfizz wrote:I wasn't formally diagnosed in 2015 after being under mental health services since after my first was born 2010 I had previously been seen in 2005 or 2006.

I take it wasn't is a typo for was (or someone inside denying). 2005 to 2015 = 10 years.

My short time to diagnosis actually hides a long delay. I tried to get help for my DID symptoms 30 years earlier! At the time I was totally thwarted by others, didn't even get as far as one hour with a mental health professional.

Hi

posting on my so's account because we don't have our own account here.

1998: hospitalized following assault. was diagnosed as Schizophrenic. released after 8 months, i think, i can't really remember.
2010: sought treatment after birth of my second child. i was hearing people speaking to me and about me, and seeing things that weren't there. i was terrified there were cameras in the apartment and people watching me all the time. i was diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and visual/auditory hallucinations.
2013: formal diagnosis of DID after my husband presented a detailed diary of my behavior to my psychiatrist. i didn't really believe it, but i just couldn't understand why so many different things were happening to me.

1998, 15 years to DID diagnosis.

good luck everyone. Erin the Invincible.

2 years. We self diagnosed a year later, then we just hunted around for a year until we got access to a therapist who specialized in DID and she officially confirmed it. If we hadn't self-diagnosed we would probably never have got a correct diagnosis.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sept 2013: started EMDR. No diagnosis, my therapist wasn't big on Dx'ing so it was just "childhood trauma." Ended therapy May 2014

October 2014: I thought we were maybe OOSD, my family doctor thought that was unlikely and suggested C-PTSD (she was right about the C-PTSD at least)

April 2015: Started therapy again, but therapist wasn't trauma-focused. We told her about being a system at first and she didn't really bring it up or investigate further, so we didn't bring it up again. Because we're transgender and we were trying to get approved for surgery, later on we had to backtrack and told her that we just told ourselves a story about having alters because we were in a crisis at the time but it wasn't really true. :/

June 2015: Started Generative Somatics therapy. Therapist knew little about DID but accepted what we told her at face value. She was incredible.

Sept 2015: Started seeing a psych at a sexual assault clinic who had 25 years experience working with DID. She was awesome, she didn't bother doing any diagnostic tests since it was clear to her that we were a system just from talking to us in the first session. She was amazing and the first person to help us address internal communication and cooperation and all that. We thought we were OOSD with just a few alters, but quickly discovered 23 alters and realized that DID fit better (she doesn't actually think there's a major distinction between the two anyway).

It took about 5 years for correct diagnosis. Misdiagnosed as bipolar then with major depression and panic before getting the complex ptsd with DID

@LearnToLoveTheRide Erin, it is great to hear from you directly. You are so strong! And what Brett did was really smart.

@Ophidahlia Madison, yours is a typical story of short time to diagnosis due to being proactive. Your dx came before you joined here, so did you lurk first?

@Luvmycats, first, congratulations on your full integration! I know it may seem like unnecessary detail but what year was your first contact with mental health care, and what year did you receive the DID diagnosis?

My first contact with mental health services was in 2002 and I was diagnosed with anorexia and recurrent major depressive disorder. I spent some years hospitalized but they all focused on the eating disorder symptoms. Over the years I recieved a lot of other different diagnoses.
In 2010 my current therapists told me about dissociative disorders but I was in crises with psychotic symptoms and couldn’t cope or understand what she said. In 2014 she mentioned DID specifically, but i denied it. Last year, 2016, we spoke about diagnoses and DID was added to my diagnoses (even though I still have som denial about it and might think OSDD might fit better. Actually writing all this feels very fake).

So 2002, 14 (or 12 as my therapist suggested it, but it was to overwhelming?)

My very first mental health experience was around 1994 but for a less than a yr. then not until 2009- misdiagnosed then finally treated properly 5 total years w a yr break. No, I did not lurk until diagnosed. Honestly I thought DID was more movie stuff than real. Reading forums made it real and educated me orvalidated my experiences but it also made me worse in a lot of ways.
Thank you Una+.

@mindbodysoul I guess I'd call that 14 years. And respectful of your T to not impose the diagnosis on you until you were ready to accept it.

@Luvmycats sounds like you're saying the DID diagnosis was in 2014? So 1994 to 2014, 20 years. Not unusual.

Hi everyone.

First time seen by a mental health proffesional was in 2015. Origally diagnosed with psychosis. After continuing seeing my psychiatrist and psycolagist my diagnosis was changed to D.I.D in September 2016.

Amanda. Xxxxx

1985: Diagnosed with Manic Depression. A few years later, same psychiatrist diagnosed Schizophrenia
1994: A Psychiatrist on exchange from the US diagnosed MPD following an initial diagnosis of major depression that didn't respond to anti-depressants
2013: A psychologist diagnosed DDNOS/cPTSD
2014: Current psychiatrist diagnosed an anxiety disorder and PTSD

So that would be: 1985, 9