Check in: Time to diagnosis?

I don't know. It seems unfair to call it 21 years. I was only there for some months in one school year, and none of what we discussed had anything to do with trauma. The family counseling, I barely got to talk, as my mom monopolized almost everything. And when I did have the most symptoms teens and early 20s, I never had any contact with mental health services at all, despite having constant SU. My symptoms have never bothered anyone but me, maybe because of my attachment issues (avoiding deep relationships) and care taking of others from parentification at a young age.

2008
diagnosed 2016

First contact... May have been 2007. I wanted to stop self harming

Dx'd with generalized anxiety and depression in 2012. Treated for those.

DDNOS dx in 2016, I became aware first and my psychiatrist confirmed it.

yakusoku, I understand and I face this dilemma too. The metric in use though is first contact with a professional who could have diagnosed the DID if they had asked the right questions. (The right questions do not probe for trauma or abuse; they ask about dissociative symptoms: zoning out, labile affect, etc.) Being seen but not recognized is a so-called "missed diagnosis", which many of us have.

Lindsay, Kate and all @elemenopea, thanks!

snailgirl, thank you! My first therapist knew in my first session what was going on with me, but took months to admit it. Meanwhile I diagnosed myself, found this forum, then found a PsyD who confirmed the diagnosis and treated me.

Keep the data coming!

First contact with mental health services : 2009 at an alternative therapist in the Netherlands.
First diagnosed: end 2013 at a counselor in Japan (though not officially since he did not have the authority for that)
First officially diagnosed: start 2014 at a therapist in the Netherlands.

So all in all around 5 years before official diagnosis

When I could no longer function! I was homeless! they put on SSi! At that time, I went into the main health care system! Diagnosed with personalty disorder, clinical depression with psychotic tendencies; AVPD! That kind of thing; shrink put me on meds! bla bla bla; same stuff as everyone else!

I started into 12 step groups from the beginning! and Ive never left!

Took 7 years before I walked into the offices of better therapists! within a few sessions; Dissociative disorder./ CPTSD, agoraphobia! IT took 7 years from the time of SSI to diagnose me properly!

I complained about passing out! the therapist said Id been passing out in her office for quit sometime! and I would have to accept all of the diagnoses! that was about 11 years ago!

Im much much better now; a complete miracle! However, Ive put in my 10,000 hours of lonely brutal recovery work! Ive known many that killed themselves! they couldn't make the crossing back to reality! Family issues and codependency! They could not let go and move into the present; to much flash back of trauma! They come to me in my dreams at times! I know their energy is near! And I wont be one of them! Im past that trap door and many others!

I am not suicidal any more! its strange! I do not have clinical depression anymore! Ive healed!

Im working on facing everything and recovering! My main issues are activities and relationships!

Biggest problems with dissociative disorder is Amnesia! this completely covered my life into a white paste of oblivion! like having a complete neural lobotomy!

Im better now; Im in my childhood and remembering who I am! Still have problems! sucks! Im better tho; I do allot of success based thinking programs and stuff!

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As I wake up from dissociative disorder; PTSD is the big problem; its back drops are always getting in the way of reality and my focus gets pulled of being in the here n now! Im working on techniques to focus on imaginative creations in my mind to get the focus off the PTSD and keep me present!

And I have another problem as I wake up! Sex! I never thought I would be someone with a sex problem!
Im like a 10 year old! Im scared to be touched! and the fact is; few women ever see my bed; and yet I've had all of them want to sleep with me! Im so wanting this to stop! Im very much looking at getting over some of these child defenses that are causing these problems! The 8 year old in me does not want to sleep with women! the adult in me wants to sleep with all of them! The 8 year old wont break free yet! to much on him; going from the past and accepting it didn't work out the way he dreamed! Ill get their!

Women! when you don't sleep with all these women; you get a strange reputation with women! The little vultures talk! and talk and talk and talk! But they are very forgiving!

Standards! Im an intelligent man and Im way under my potential and under the standard level of who I should associate with! Im to crushed to meet anyone of the same ability level! I don't want to be treated like a creepoid because of my economic situation!



I seem to be immature and scared of women! its like Im a little boy and they are grown women! it sucks; its a strange effect! This has to do with my mother but its one more side effect of dissociation!

Im now learning how to align with God and go after my goals; those things Im naturally good at and love to do; Im learning how to get doubt out of the picture! Im learning how to get my psychopathic mother out of my thoughts; and the bullies and the predators and creeps and every other creature that used to destroy me when young because I had no protection; get them out of the picture! and Im slowly recovering!

Never expect anyone to understand this!

Hi Una,

We should revise my data. I did not understand the parameters at my first response.

1996 is first contact. but I was a minor and definately just trying to get the ###$ out of there before I got locked up permanently.

Dx was 2016. I didn't have the year right. sorry.

I am very interested in your survey results when they are ready.

We sought out diagnosis privately, which was the first contact with mental health professionals we had since being treated approx. 13-14 years earlier as a teenager. We actually made a big deal about avoiding all health care professionals and mental health ones in particular in that decade and a bit.
We were diagnosed in 2013 at the age that was at the time the mean age for diagnosis, which tickled me.

GeMerope, 2009 and 2014, thanks! That is interesting about the counselor in Japan; DID is not well known there.

OMNICELL, wow, that is amazing! (By the way, many of us here can relate to being an unreasonable object of sexual interest.) Decoding it all, I gather your first contact with mental health care was in 2004 and diagnosis of a major dissociative disorder was in 1997. Is that about right?

BeccaBee, 1996 and 2016, got it! Behind the scenes this project is "snow balling": getting bigger and bigger. It should be very interesting. I can hardly wait!

Teatime, that sounds like 1999 and 2013. Is that right?

Una+ wrote:Teatime, that sounds like 1999 and 2013. Is that right?

Some here insist 1998 is more likely, but we don't have great recall for that period of our life.