How Helpful Is A Diagnosis? Are You 'a Problem That Needs To Be Fixed'??

[221177]

I am interested to hear your thoughts on whether any diagnosis has helped or hindered you.

The reason I raise this is because my therapist has never diagnosed me with any disorder, or labelled me in any way, he simply helps me talk through all that I have been experiencing. It is only me that has investigated the 'symptoms' and found this akin to PTSD symptoms.

That said, throughout different times, I could also have resonated with bi-polar disorder, manic depression, narcissistic personality, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, OCD, as well as having panic attacks, hypoglycaemia, diabetes, adrenal fatigue.. the list of 'issues' 'problems' 'dysfunctions' goes on through traditional chinese medicine and beyond!

I stopped seeing medical doctors years ago, but even when I have seen a homeopath or a naturopath they have been keen to give me supplements to help me with the issues I have had. It has only been my therapist who has not treated me in any way like a problem to be fixed, and I believe there is great merit in this.

Despite best intentions, I feel that any practitioners that prescribe something for someone can inadvertantly reinforce the notion that something outside of ourselves is needed in order to make us complete - that we are not fine as we are.

For me this can feed the ideas like:
a) I have a problem
b) I am a problem
c) I need fixing
d) I am not okay as I am
e) something is wrong with me
f) these things about me are not acceptable or okay
g) I am not normal

Rather than simply a view of these things and experiences just being experiences, which may seem unpleasant, but in actual fact are perfectly understandable, natural, and in truth, there is nothing wrong with experiencing them.

So, despite still feeling anxiety over different things and my brain exploring the possibilities of what this means, and how I need to fix it, what's wrong with me what's wrong with me what's wrong with me.. I realise that there is in fact nothing wrong with me, it's just a mind fear belief system that became a habit as I was growing up - simple. I can describe the story in more elaborate detail about the perceived emotional neglect I received, but for me keeping it simple doesn't disregard the wrongs that occurred, it just helps me stay present with what I'm feeling, and through the present I feel I can more effectively process the past.

I understand that even knowing this and understanding it logically doesn't make everything go away in my head, but it does help me to stay present, remember that all I really need to do is simply keep practising being calm, and most of the time, I just need to DO NOTHING, just BE.

I would say easier said than done, but minds make things complicated, and for me the main message my brain feeds me after years of practice is 'I AM A PROBLEM THAT CAN'T BE FIXED'.

When I can say to myself that I am not a problem, everything is actually okay, I am actually okay right here right now, I can begin to be and feel calm, and can see my mind when it starts chasing another worry or problem.

So my tendency has been to label myself as some disorder, and whilst useful in feeling that I can relate to others experiencing similar, for me, any diagnosis would bracket and define me as some kind of problem that needs to be fixed, which of course I am not, and no-one is.

:)

 

[Zipperhead]

My diagnosis seems to be a double edged sword. Understanding what I've got really has helped, allot. I have accepted that I am normal form someone who has experienced where I've been. I have seen how my life has been effected, and learned allot on how to overcome. And, I have found that I use it as an excuse. I can't go in that crowd, I've got PTSD. This is a recent developement, and I'm going to squash that self-pity thing as fast as I can.

In the end, I would say to get that official diagnosis. Self doudt is not the realm for sane people. Find out what you are up against. Just make sure you use that knowledge appropriately. No making excuses. There is nothing wrong with you, you are you. You have some issues to work through, but that is part of who you are. Life would be boring if everything worked perfect everytime. It's a new day 221177, Rejoice and be glad in it.

 

[Meadowsweet]

I understand the feeling of being the problem that can't be fixed. But I have been more vulnerable to people (not professionals) who see themselves as 'fixers'.

I went to my GP, because my symptoms were bad enough for me to see that there was something wrong. But more importatntly, I went to my GP because I don't want to experience those symptoms and because I havn't found a way to deal with them by myself (and it has been years). So I chose to go to help myself, not because somebody else wanted me to, and it was a big decision for me because I fear labels and especially labels that could have a stigma attached, or be used to harm me.

When I went into the doctors, I was worried about what to say or how I would explain what was wrong with me. I've tried to communicate to friends whats in my mind, and it's gone very wrong. As it happens i was in such a panic by the time I saw the doctor, that even if she couldn't understand a word I was saying, the physical symptoms were obvious. When I was assesssed, I was relatively ok and most of the questions were straight forward and got some order out of my disordered mind.

I wasn't able to put my thoughts into any order, and was struggling to understand what was real and what was in my mind. My worst offense is sending emails to friends who really don't want to read my paranoia's, but its frightening (and embarrasing) to read what I've written.To me, at the moment, the label PTSD gives me that logical, clinical voice and an orderly list of symptoms. So even though I have bad moments, I'm not getting so lost in them, because that clinical voice can at least get me to wait and see if I feel the same in 48 hours.

Also, although I havn't started therapy yet, from what I read, the label is quite important for getting the right therapy. If the symptoms are trauma related, then the therapy can be directed toward looking at the trauma. If theyre not, then I think there is a danger of finding trauma that hasn't been a significant problem. Or if the trauma isn't recognised as part of the condition, there is surely a danger of it not being considered as part of the treatment.

 

[Ted Moen]

I think our challenge is to learn to manage our symptoms. Our diagnosis is just a professional opinion of what our set of symptoms represent according to current diagnostic criteria. Symptoms overlap considerably. To some extent, the diagnosis we receive depends on which symptoms the professional chooses to focus on. PTSD symptoms overlap significantly with bipolar symptoms. I mentor a number of elementary kids who have what I consider PTSD symptoms, but are diagnosed either as bipolar or ADHD. In my mind that is a way of blaming the child rather than addressing the home environment issues.

In any event, it is the symptoms that we have to learn to manage. If there is a specific diagnosis that fits and would be more supportive in some way, discuss it with your therapist or seek a therapist that is focused on the symptoms you need to focus on. You have one set of symptoms you are challenged with learning to live with. There are multiple diagnosis that might describe your set of symptoms.

Ted

 

[TheLost]

Its not the diagnosis that pees me off, its the prognosis.

 

[Zipperhead]

Prognosis doesn't change just because you know and understand. If anything, knowing helps you influence the outcome. You can't fix it if you don't know what's broke.

 

[TheLost]

Good point Zipperhead. I suppose what I meant was that unlike some illnesses and at least according to my Psych, I will always have this, I just have to learn how to cope with it. But yes, knowing the diagnosis does help the prognosis when I look at it that way.

 

[Eleanor]

unlike some illnesses and at least according to my Psych, I will always have this, I just have to learn how to cope with it.

Um, isn't this just false? Your psych is misinformed - as one might well be about PTSD since things change so fast. There ARE people who meet the criteria, do treatment(s) and then are no longer meet the diagnostic criteria. That is a lot different from their being a Cure (do this, it goes away every time) but it is also a world away from "always having" it.

A thought about the original post and "fixing" "problems." I use that terminology a lot - and it is because I like the metaphor - I feel empowered by it. I think I misread your post (in a strange way) because I have been reading one of my favorite Buddhist thinkers last night and so I thought " of course "I am" is the problem! but you can't fix it! You just have to stop reifying yourself as an "identity" :geek:. Being here now is generally good daily advice in my book anyhow.

 

[Tinyflame]

That's pretty amazing Eleanor, most wouldn't think that way.

And yes, living 'symptom-free' is maybe not technically a cure but quite ok(!)

I think one has to except what you can't change- my issue is to learn to do it more gracefully and without being selfish or self-centered, etc.

 

[simplekindofgirl]

You can't fix it if you don't know what's broke.

I dont entirely agree with this. You can know that something is broken and not do anything but fix yourself. PTSD has been around a lot longer than pharma and group therapies, and people survived it. Some people refuse to treat it traditionally altogether. And then you have the cases that are misdiagnosed later to be told, whoops- it's PTSD after all- and oh, how have you been feeling? For me it was the same before as it is now, the diagnosis, the prognosis- I had to want to take control of it/myself before anything else could help, period. I still struggle, and often. But that is just me.

 

[Tinyflame]

Yes, if something 'works', and it's not harmful, well, Thank God for that.

 

[maddog]

Lots of thoughts and reactions to this most fascinating topic.

Speaking from my personal subjective experience, labels make me uncomfortable and tend to feellike a form of life sentence... "it's official Maddog, the jury has spoken, you have PTSD, goodbye!!"

I know that for some people it helps to have a neat, validated, describable and recognized explanation for the seemingly impossible-to-explain phenomena that we live with. "I have PTSD..." can be very empowering and a relief for some sufferers, particularly as most people have at least a cursory understanding of what PTSD actually is, thus perhaps satisfying a little of the need for further explanation.

But for me I have always found it almost intolerable to say such a thing, as though I am condemning myself to something inescapable and terminal from which I will never escape.

Is this a form of denial on my part? Probably... denial has always been a problem for me, as have honesty and any form of frankness or openness about my situation at all.

Both my T and, surprisingly, my current psychiatrist, are quite avoidant of the use of labels. At the outset of therapy, T advised me that I met diagnostic criteria for major depression, and then, some months later, he talked to me about complex trauma, what it was and how it was relevant to my situation. We haven't discussed this since in any other than passing terms, though he does encourage me to accept and acknowledge that my current situation is exclusively the result of my past and "things that were done to me", and as such, I suppose he does encourage me to assign some external cause or label to my situation.

Similarly, unlike other psychiatrists I have worked with, my current one isn't very hung up on medical models of diagnosis at all and has in fact referred only to complex trauma in the course of conversation. He has quite an extraordinary (at least to me) view in fact that a whole range of presenting psychiatric symptoms, such as those asociated with depression, are highly treatment resistent and will improve only as a result of direct processing and integration of trauma. The extraordinary part of this belief is that as a result he is very reluctant to prescribe medication and believes that it often serves only to complicate symptom profiles and interfere with the processing of the trauma.

I do like this approach, it seems "real" and "right" to me, though of course in the short term it does equate to a need to just "live with" the symptoms and accept that they won't go away any time soon.

Again, speaking from my own subjective and perhaps irrational perspective, there is comfort and reassurance in the avoidance of labels and "off-the-shelf" solutions. Somehow it helps me to feel more normal and less "afflicted" to discuss my situation and my experiences rather than any feature or characteristic of myself. Whether it is intentional or not on their part, it does help me as I struggle to come to terms with who and what I am.

I just want to be me - not a condition, an illness or a symptom profile. I know that's what we all want, and I know that we all work towards this in different ways.

Maddog