Diagnosis

Why is it so important?! I'm having therapy, and my care team says its working. So why are they still trying so hard to diagnos me? It seems like they are spending time on it when they could be spending time doing other things. I thought diagnosis is only important so they can decide what your treatment is? I mean it seems pretty pointless to diagnose you coz if you are getting better its not really relevant is it

It could be for billing purposes. The more complex the mental illness, the more they can bill for the treatment.

LOL.

For treatment & awareness. For example - I was recently diagnosed as Bipolar, it helps to know exactly what medication to prescribe, what activities to avoid or do & gives me awareness of what to look for in my illness.

What do they think you have? Is there a reason they are trying so hard to diagnose you? It could help them figure out how to treat you & what to say in therapy.

Also could be an insurance company issue. They also like to cover their butts so to speak.

Whenever you go through insurance, they must put a diagnosis down even if it is totally incorrect. They even have to do this when they don't have a clue yet and are just testing. So, for instance if they are doing a blood test to LOOK for vitamin B deficiency, they already have to diagnose with nutritional problem to get the insurance to pay. Yes, it is fairly absurd.

And when it comes to psychiatric, it is all based on what mental diagnosis matches the symptoms. It may not be for decades till they figure out the real problem, though. The only way around this, that I know of is the lucky people who can pay cash so they do not have to go through insurance, so can tell the doctors not to put this into their records. This is allowed and is your right. Ha ha... but you have to have the money to not get the diagnoses in your medical records. So, even if a child goes to the psychologist to work through trauma from having cancer, they have to get a mental diagnosis for insurance, unless the parents can pay keeping insurance out of the loop.

I read on another board a person with a mental diagnosis so the medical doctors wouldn't listen to him and then finally a neurologist started over in spite of the psych diagnosis and what he had was MS - NOT the psych diagnosis.

It's not insurance, I don't have any.

I just feel like I say 2 and 2 is happening and then they go Aaaahhh 3 and 5 - that's 7!

It's almost like they are trying to find more wrong with me than actually is.

EarlGreyDregs wrote:For treatment & awareness. For example - I was recently diagnosed as Bipolar, it helps to know exactly what medication to prescribe, what activities to avoid or do & gives me awareness of what to look for in my illness.

What do they think you have? Is there a reason they are trying so hard to diagnose you? It could help them figure out how to treat you & what to say in therapy.

I don't know about what to say in therapy. Why don't they just ask me questions?

jungle_cat wrote:Why don't they just ask me questions?

Cat, it sounds like you've hit the nail on the head there. from what you're saying it sounds like you feel your care team are coming to conclusions too fast without asking enough questions. I can understand that too. Maybe you just need to tell them that you feel they are jumping to conclusions too fast and need to clarify what you mean by things, or check the reality of a situation before jumping to a conclusion? I don't know about you but i think sometimes i find it hard to put myself across in a way that is clear straight away. As long as you can make them aware of that, just take it as communication practice!

Could you try another doctor? If I am not feeling satisfied with any of my doctors I always switch. It took me several before I found a psychiatrist I was happy with. Many would charge an arm and a leg and just listen to me talk without asking questions or giving feedback. They would just listen to me talk.

jungle_cat wrote:Why is it so important?! I'm having therapy, and my care team says its working. So why are they still trying so hard to diagnos me? It seems like they are spending time on it when they could be spending time doing other things. I thought diagnosis is only important so they can decide what your treatment is? I mean it seems pretty pointless to diagnose you coz if you are getting better its not really relevant is it

It's a question you should probably ask yourself. Your signature would suggest that you view your self-diagnosed disorder as a defining personality trait or even some sort of badge of honour.

I apologise if I'm coming across as rude. Sometimes we fail to see the irony in ourselves and I believe an impartial perspective should be welcomed even if only out of curiosity.

Anyway, I hope all is going well with your treatment. You should be more forthright with your psychiatrist. Raise concerns and ask questions when necessary.