The Diagnosis Rage

“Oh I’m Bipolar, with Borderline Personality features, severe PTSD, not to mention I also have been diagnosed with bulimia, opioid dependency, etoh abuse, trichotillomania and grief/abandonment issues.”

Really?

“Oh yes, but I am on the right combination of 12 meds now and things are going, well, fairly smoothly. You know, except for the blurred vision, constipation, migraines, low white blood cell count, and occasionally passing out.

How long have you had these diagnoses?

“Since I saw my new doctor last month for the first time. Gosh, he is just the Best!”

Among things I find amazing is when I meet a new client for the first time and I ask them what their diagnosis is. He or she might say for example that they have been diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. I will then go on to ask them what Type, I or II? They will look at me like I have three heads and usually respond with something to the effect, ‘what do you mean? You know the type that goes up and down.’

So let me get this straight, someone gives you a diagnosis and you don’t ask them what they are basing it on? Again, as I always emphasis just because a person has credentials after their name does not necessarily mean they are skilled. TRUST ME on this one. I have been working in the field for over twenty years and some of the most idiotic, moronic statements I have heard have come from the mouths of the so called “Experts.”

Might be nice if they told you specifically what criteria they were basing the diagnosis on, right? People often times feel intimidated or just leave it in their hands. ‘I can’t question them, after all they are the professional.’

Bullshit. Someone gives you a diagnosis look it up, read about it. Get all the information you can about. Self-Efficacy my friends. Be an informed consumer. You may find, ‘Hey, from my research I can see now that I had a substance induced mood disorder, not Major Depressive Disorder like they said I had, and I have been feeling better more every day since detoxing!’

Most important of all, YOU are not a Diagnosis, a Label. You are a HUMAN BEING with XYZ!

When I worked at the Somerville Hospital Detox (closed in 2009) when we did the “Wrap-Up” group at the end of the day we had four questions each patient would answer.
The first one was, “Tell us something about yourself.” Something other than the obvious. Yes we know you are an alcoholic or an addict or you would not be sitting here.

What else are you? “a Musician, Father, Friend, Caring Person, Dreamer, Plummer, Student, etc, etc, etc.

The addiction is a part of you, not the Totality!

Over twenty years I have seen the times when a certain diagnosis was the “Rage” such as ADD in the nineties and now we appear to be in the “Bipolar” era.

In 1994 people that were receiving disability checks for Chemical Dependency were informed that they would be losing their benefits unless they were diagnosed with another mental disorder.

Hence began the mad dash to the doctor’s office to get said secondary diagnosis. Often times these were established by those all knowledgeable in psychiatry - The Primary Care Physician! (Yea, eight to thirty hours in med school qualifies them right? Idiots).

Currently I am finishing up the book “Anatomy of an Epidemic” by Robert Whitaker. Yea, Psychiatry definitely needs to take a good hard look at itself. Pick up a copy. I am sure you will find it to be an eye opener to the say the least!



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