Is diagnosis "empowerment"?

[Upside Down Eagle]

A question to discuss among ourselves.

I´m a writer, and I frequently write about mental health and read articles by other people.

A while ago I encountered an article by someone who asked: are you traumatized enough to claim you have cptsd? His argument was that a lot of people invalidate their own feelings, and thus don´t feel like they are worthy of seeking help. He said that people should´t be afraid of diagnosing themselves with cptsd if it made them feel valid.

It made me think of when I was a newb to this forum (more than six years ago!). I had been wrongly diagnosed with borderline, which later turned out to be cptsd. Since I hadn´t gotten an official cptsd diagnosis yet, I´d diagnosed myself as such (and was later diagnosed cptsd by a professional).

Back then, it was not okay (on this forum) to diagnose yourself. Which I understand. The reasoning was that you cannot be sure you have cptsd, and also that your experience as having this diagnosis might invalidate those who actually have cptsd. So this made me think and I replied to the other writer.

I said that people shouldn´t be to fast to slap on a diagnosis like cptsd. It can be pretty debilitating to just assume you have cptsd (or ptsd for that matter), especially if you don´t have it Perhaps you are just experiencing grief and not able to see that the grief and trauma are possibly temporary.

So for the sake of discussion. Whaddaya think?
Let´s keep it respectful towards everyone who does and does not have a diagnosis.

 

[Deleted member 37474]

I think the diagnosis helps me work towards acceptance of what I am going through. It helps me find others with similar issues and it is good to have support by those that understand. Also, it is good for guiding treatment.

I did a 10 week mind bridging ptsd workbook before seeking out therapy or a diagnosis because I had researched my symptoms and ptsd seemed pretty clear, but to have a professional confirm it was a relief to me. I am not "going crazy," this is an actual thing.

 

[Ronin]

I found diagnoses don't empower me;

But finding people who walked similar paths, lived similar lives, and can help me with the sense of loneliness along with parsing a gazillion issues and what's normal for what? Incredibly damned empowering. :D Beyond that: life saving.

As to others, I reserve judgment on that one. There's plenty of (under)privilege issues to talk about in looking for a diagnosis, as well as other side of it and self diagnosis, in the manner it's done in some circles, being harmful and toxic and enabling toxic thinking and habits, and it's bit out of my scope to comment on at this time.

So summed up: If it actually benefits your life, and harms no one else in the process? Good on you. It's where it promotes toxic assumptions and a way of labeling other people things turn a problem.

 

[Tornadic Thoughts]

I found the diagnoses I was assigned to be more crippling than empowering, especially the first few years of trying to find quality care. I had professionals ignoring the multiple traumas I reported in great detail and only attaching the diagnostic labels they could more easily medicate. However, I was also wrongly diagnosed for many things through the years by even my regular GP that I later discovered to be mainly related to what I was choosing to ingest, apply to my body, and keep using around me in my environment. Misled and misfed most of my life...big time!

I guess painfully learning how incredibly inaccurate all of those folks had been for so long was even more empowering for me in the long run than them supposedly getting it right from the get go, as I would have never learned the power I/my body already have to be able to nurture my cell-ph back to a better state of health than what I was previously used to believing in and settling for.

 

[RCD_VET]

I have yet to be officially diagnosed (I have appointments made to get diagnosed) and I have two different trains of thought. When going to these appointments do I want to get professionally diagnosed?? If I am diagnosed it will help, as others have stated, me have some kind of explanation for my thoughts and feelings. It will also make me feel "broken" and unable to be repaired. If I'm not diagnosed there could be relief that whatever I am dealing with is something that can be fixed, yet it won't fully help me understand what has been going on all these years. It's sort of a challenge and has actually made it tough to take the steps required to get the help needed. With this thinking, I'm not sure empowered is the right word. It could be a feeling of relief. An answer to something so unknown.

 

[FragileGlass]

A question to discuss among ourselves.

I´m a writer, and I frequently write about mental health and read...

In a work environment like medical / first responder or even military, it seems many afflicted feel guilty because 'our trauma' seems irrational in comparison to our colleagues.

In my case, I've only worked in the hospital industry three years. I'm up against people who have 10-15-20 years or more of service as paramedics, police, nursing or doctors. The diagnosis of PTSD didn't empower me, it actually created a self aware weakness, guilt or shame because others have seen and experienced so much more over much longer time frame.

 

[Freida]

But finding people who walked similar paths, lived similar lives, and can help me with the sense of loneliness along with parsing a gazillion issues and what's normal for what? Incredibly damned empowering. :D Beyond that: life saving.

@Ronin you hit that right on the head. This site has been one of the best things that has happened to me since this whole miserable journey began. I can't even tell you how much the people here have helped me to allow that someday I will accept what happened and what I need to do to get past it

If I am diagnosed it will help, as others have stated, me have some kind of explanation for my thoughts and feelings. It will also make me feel "broken" and unable to be repaired.

@RCD_VET bad vet! :D you will not be broken if you get diagnosis. You will have a diagnosis. That's all. Once you have a diagnosis you can start a treatment plan. It took me three years to get past that -- and I still sometimes fall back on the word BROKEN. And then I see you say that and I get why they say to me ... bad vet!

I'm up against people who have 10-15-20 years or more of service as paramedics, police, nursing or doctors.

@FragileGlass I had 20+ years in. Don't let them fool you. Most of them have PTSD because back in the day there was no help. I grew up in the Suck It Up Cupcake generation of public safety. Not crying, not shaking, not breaking down? All badges of honor. If you lost it you were ostracized as weak. Luckily we now know more about stress management, critical incidents and trauma so we can take better care of our youngsters.

 

[Sideways]

I think it was possibly the opposite of ‘empowering’ when I was diagnosed. There’s been countless occasions over the years where I’ve had a pdoc or T sit me down and explain to me (or remind me) “You have ptsd”.

My constant compulsion has been to try and brush it off, work harder, pick myself up and just move on. Surely if I just try harder I can be ‘normal and successful?’

My diagnosis is the reality check: this is an illness. It’s a really serious illness. You can’t just brush this off. You can’t sweep it under the rug and just “work harder”. You’re actually going to have to alter the way you live, and your expectations about your life. Recovery is going to take years, not weeks or months.

There’s a relief comes from knowing that the things I struggle with are normal for people with this illness. But it’s not empowering. Not empowering at all.

 

[Snowflakes]

Interesting discussion. No one ever asked me before.

I’m a VietNam veteran. I experienced things that shook the core of who I am. I survived and returned home. For many years I was essentially a nasty person to everyone. There was no Internet at the time. If it wasn’t in the morning paper, I didn’t know about it. I was a first class ass and didn’t realize it.

It would be years later that someone close to me figured it out and my faith and trust in this person allowed me to listen to her. It took a while but a huge bright light came on and I knew I could change. It would take many years of therapy and some meds to get me back to who I was before the war and who I am today. I still remember but a long lifetime has settled me down and I manage.

The diagnosis was empowering to me because I found out I wasn’t alone. I also learned I could heal and be a better person. It took a lifetime....50 years of my life...to learn this.

 

[Recovery4Me]

If it is indeed ‘empowering’ to some to have such an diagnosis, then let it not be confused with that of entitlement. Ultimately choice of reactions still rest within our grasp with compassion as our driver.

 

[shimmerz]

No. Diagnosis was humbling.

On the upside, it clarified so many things. Things that had happened in my life long before I was diagnosed with PTSD. I expect I have had it all of my life.

 

[Deleted member 541]

It was a lightbulb moment. Everything just came together and there was a word, a name a diagnosis for what was driving me insane. Symptoms are so much better after yrs of work. Too bad that I’ll always be insane!!!, LOL!!!