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thestinkmaster

6mo ago

Struggling with BPD Diagnosis: To Label or Not to Label?

weird question. i have no formal diagnosis but i am going through DBT and have been handling abandonment and socializing-specific topics with my therapist, and when i told him i think i might have BPD, he just said to call what i'm experiencing "whatever i want" if i need a label for it. i feel like he may be hesitant to diagnose me for the hallmark reasons why therapists and psychiatrists are hesitant to diagnose BPD like stigma and insurance or even overlapping symptoms (im diagnosed with autism and ptsd) and whatever may be making a diagnosis difficult to give me. anyway, basically, i cannot figure out for myself if it's appropriate to say "i have BPD." i feel like i should not and should focus on trying to customize a label for it like he suggested after saying to call it whatever i want, but it makes things kind of easier when socializing and explaining my perspective and problems to say it is BPD? it just doesn't feel fair to be doing DBT and actively recovering with different methods to handle my symptoms and not have any words for what i'm even experiencing when i inevitably have those symptoms among people. i also don't want to self diagnose with it though, it's more like, (TLDR) i feel like my therapist is kind of already implying that i do have BPD (he made the DBT plan for me after our intake and first suggested to me my "over"reactions may be influenced by trauma and feelings of abandonment) but he just can't/won't diagnose it and i can't figure out if that makes it ok for me to say i struggle with it or not

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rainbows1

6mo ago

When my psychiatrist was very dismissive in giving me a diagnosis I started symptom checking online and a lot of my symptoms in my research brought me back to BPD so I did more research on that. And then it really resonated with me so I went back to my psychiatrist and asked her if she could do whatever test necessary to see if that's what I have she was dismissive again and diagnosed me with PTSD. So I didn't fully understand what BPD was so I went on YouTube and there was this one person that explained it really well. I end up taking notes of each of the criteria and how they explain what it was and then writing a definition in my own words of each criteria. The next thing I'm going to do is take that list that I fully resonate with and make a list of 10 experiences per item of criteria where I personally felt I met that criteria and I'm going to put a time stamp on each experience to prove that it's chronic. And then I'm going to find a new psychiatrist because personally I do self diagnose I do say I have it but if a psychiatrist is not willing to say I do then I want them to explain to me what my symptoms actually are because I know it's more than just PTSD. I would say based on what you said you can definitely self diagnose. And you don't have to fight for a diagnosis as long as your getting proper treatment for it I feel like that's what's important.
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thestinkmaster

6mo ago

thank you for an input. I mostly struggle with understanding how to communicate my issues without a formal diagnosis because i don't want other people to dismiss me and indirectly stunt me further.
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Ziggy_B

6mo ago

I’d say yes, you can say you struggle with BPD, because it’s the symptoms and struggles of BPD that make it BPD, not the label or a diagnosis.
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thestinkmaster

6mo ago

this is a very fair response, thank you.

The content in this post is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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