You have just been given your diagnosis, it may feel very validating or maybe confusing. You could even completely disagree with your results. Could they be inaccurate? It can be possible to get a misdiagnosis with all of the variables like: overlapping symptoms or inaccurate self-reporting, this is not an exact science, so you can expect errors to occur.
Numbers suggest, that mental health diagnosis is are incorrect, in about 30% of cases. Bipolar is hard to diagnose because 40% of patients with a bipolar diagnosis, do not even meet full diagnostic criteria for bipolar. That's almost half of them.
The leading causes for misdiagnosis are: 1. Complexity of conditions. 2. Overlapping symptoms 3. Limited Diagnostic tools 4. Clinician bias or lack of experience and 5. Patient factors- like inaccurate self-reporting.
After you receive your diagnosis, check it out, research it. It's very important to get the diagnosis correct- so that you get the most effective treatment for that particular disorder. A misdiagnosis will prevent this. If you feel it's not correct, the first thing to do is schedule a second opinion. You could ask someone you trust to refer you to a reliable provider. Ask how many years experience they have and ask for a comprehensive psych evaluation. The day you take the evaluation, make sure you've had plenty of sleep, something to eat, and be sure to pay close attention to the questions and give honest and detailed answers.
If this is your second opinion, you might also give the second provider your first results and explain what reasons you have to disagree with them. Write it all down on the copy you give the second provider. Keep in mind that many disorders share many symptoms. A symptom you are experiencing can be from one of many disorders or even more than one. Symptoms of one disorder can look like another disorder. Example: People with schizophrenia hear voices, but people with borderline also can experience auditory hallucinations. Bipolar can make you feel emotions intensely, but so does borderline personality disorder. If this wasn't difficult enough, it's also true you can have more than one of these disorders at the same time, making it more difficult to identify where the symptoms are coming from.
These are all important factors to consider when considering any new diagnosis, and how you feel about getting them. It's important to know it is not an exact science and it's not simple and clear cut.
When you get your results, take some time to read it and take notes on what you feel and why you feel this way. Take the results and your notes to the provider and discuss your feelings and any questions you have. This is important whether it's your first evaluation or your second opinion, because this test is about you, so how you feel is important to consider. Doing this will also help you understand why the provider came to their final conclusion.
A diagnosis is important in order to 1. understand your disorder and be able to better manage your symptoms 2. Find the most effective treatment 3. Find your best medications or just help you understand why you are the way you are. This is the first step in changing. There would never be any hope of finding a solution, if we're unable to identify the core problem. The reason we seek out diagnosis, is to accurately identify the specific mental health condition affecting you, understand your symptoms and to identify how this happened to you.
Getting a diagnosis is the very first step in validating your experience and helping you understand the how's and why's of your behavior. It's also the way we identify which treatment is most effective in treating our disorder. It's necessary part of solving your problems.
Note: Please don't be afraid to share any symptoms of your disorder with your doctor. Some symptoms are embarrassing or scary but there are solutions, as long as you are able to share it.
