What Does Your Mental Health Diagnosis Mean? by Cyndi Sarnoff-Ross/Marriage and Family Therapist: at DailyStrength Doctors and Experts

Cyndi Sarnoff-Ross is a licensed psychotherapist with almost twenty years of clinical experience in the fields of clinical psychology and organizational management br br She has worked extensively with a wide variety of…

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What Does Your Mental Health Diagnosis Mean?

Posted in ADHD / ADD by Cyndi Sarnoff-Ross on Jun 27, 2008

Mental health professionals are required, in many cases, to give their patients a specific diagnosis. This is not always easy and in this field there are many gray areas. In order to give a clear and concise diagnosis we are trained to use the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders often referred to as the DSM. Ideally therapists will treat their patients as individuals and not as their diagnosis. Some of my patients are very interested in what their diagnosis means and what the manual says about it. Others could care less and are more focused on the treatment.

It has always been my feeling that these diagnoses are best used when professionals consult with each other. It helps to give the non-treating clinician a picture of the situation, and sometimes even the person, but it by no means tells the whole story.

The danger with rushing to give someone a diagnosis is that the treatment plan is sometimes not tailored to the individual but instead it is the standard practice of treating "that diagnosis". It is a sad reality that I have seen many individuals over the years that have been profoundly misdiagnosed and this can be harmful in many ways. Some clinicians have what I call Pervasive Labeling Disorder. This is a silly made up diagnosis to describe clinicians who have a propensity to label all their patients--and often with the same diagnosis. This is self-serving behavior and, while I don't think it is deliberate, I do believe that it lacks insight and awareness on the part of the therapist. Most, if not all, insurance companies require a diagnosis in order to pay out on a claim and this can be a motivating factor for giving a label to an individual as well.

The DSM gives clear guidelines for each diagnosis and typically lists several symptoms. If the individual has a certain number of those symptoms, well then, they fit the profile. This does not make it an exact science and there are times when people desperately want a label so they can define what is "wrong" with them. This overlooks the unique process of the therapeutic interaction and can lead to inappropriate treatment.

I am not discounting the value of the DSM all together. In many cases a diagnosis is an important tool used to understand an individual's behavior. The DSM has many valuable uses, including training new therapists and communicating between professionals. And it is certainly useful when it comes to the assessment of whether or not a person needs a referral for medication. But I caution people about getting too hung up on either the presence or the absence of a clear diagnosis. Discuss with your practitioner what the label means and know that it is only one very small part of your personal story.

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Displaying comments 14-1 of 14

Your right. Thankfully, I had been in a place as a family support worker to be able to have the means to receive information. This gave me more safe empowerment to search and question my needs. Though, I wish I had these tools earlier in my youth ... I think, I would have had better means of coping and preventing added disabilities. Along with the unrelenting support of a true friend there. ... Seeing others, both strangers and ex-clients ... I am fortunate. As I had found some strength to become my own case worker and advocate for myself. Thus, resulting in a comprehensive team that works with me to help me with my goals towards self-improvement. As I told one Doctor (once who always looked at his papers and computer, and not me): "If your concern was only how the medication was working, and then see you in two weeks. Then, there must be a miracle pill somewhere for someone and then we don't need doctors anymore. What I want is someone to help me to take control, not the medications, not the doctors. Give me at least one positive tool when I leave here, then I'll see you at the next visit." .... Thus, the caseworker within in me, to help the client in me. Again ....., Thank God ... I've been given that.

By it2speaks Oct 12, 2008

I totally agree, I was diagnosed with certain things that I totally did not agree with and was put on meds for some of the diagnosis and they ended up not working so they had to go back to the drawing board. They just needed a quick diagnosis so they could get the insurance to approve treatment.

By MatildaMakayla Aug 17, 2008

As a survivor of childhood abuse, I went into therapy to get past the sense that something was "wrong" with me. Now I've endured one label after another, which did little more than reaffirm my sense of being "wrong" until I saw through the medical model.

By Desertdancer Jul 16, 2008

This is probably why my pdoc has not offered a diagnosis to me yet since I started seeing him. I dont mind him waiting to diagnose as it is ultimately for my benefit and he may feel that he do not have all the facts yet. I applaud him for not jumping to conclusions.

By StillOfTheNight Jun 30, 2008

I have to agree with the Pervasive Labeling Disorder. I have lost how count how many times I have been diagnosed with a specific psychiatric diagnosis -- even after I have had specialists in that disorder conclusively rule it out. Because it's a very derogative diagnosis, and one that has very little treatment available, it's almost like they make the diagnosis to explain why they aren't helping me. Either that, or it's a knee-jerk, emotional reaction to my childhood. They don't want to admit that they couldn't have survived my childhood; therefore, there must be something wrong with me because I did. Then again, the state where I live licensed a therapist with a sex crimes history, so maybe I have a tainted perspective of the mental health field.

By AnnieOakley Jun 29, 2008

I recently learned that the term "nervous breakdown" isn't considered a mental health diagnosis.

By l111862 Jun 29, 2008

I have a deep need have a diagnosis whenever anything is wrong with me. I've been diagnosed by my psychiatrist as having anxiety/depresion, but I don't feel that he's telling me everything. For example: Several years ago I had a nervous breakdown. I had E.C.T. treatments & attended group therapy. My psychiatrist told me that he "thinks" that I was bipolar with schizophrenic tendencies (whatever that means) during that time. I was hospitalized twice for the same nervous breakdown. I don't understand why he doesn't tell me exactly what led to the nervous breakdown & why he doesn't give me an exact diagnosis about that period of my life. I'm extremely afraid of having another nervous breakdown & I believe that having an exact diagnosis would greatly help me to avoid one.

By l111862 Jun 29, 2008

I feel that labels, especially those based on the medical model such as DSM-IV, are for jam jars and not people. Undoubtedly, a diagnosis can help a person understand their symptoms and who they are. I just wish psychiatry would accept itself as a working hypothesis, rather than proven fact.

By rubyblue Jun 29, 2008

I call it knock on any door. I have gone to quite a number of mental health professionals since 1965. And I get a variety of labels. All I had to do to get cured from schizophrenia was to move from California to Idaho. What is really funny is I am guilty of masqurading as a psychiatric patient to going to being Jack the Ripper. When I applied for Social Security Disability a psychologist wrote in his report that I didn't have a legitimate psychiatric illness and that I was made into a psychiatric patient. Two years ago a VA psychiatrist tagged me with five different labels at the same time.

There are many stigmas psychiatric patients have to over come. The one I have never been able to over come is biased opinions and treatment from other medical doctors, medical students, resident doctors and other medical trainees. They cannot get beyond the psychiatric labels. I have one of the most derogatory discharge summaries you would ever want to read. I sent a copy of it to the Chief of Medicine.

I can't tell if the labels were right but I have proved over the years their prognosis were wrong. Had the psychiatrists been correct I wouldn't have accomplished anything since 1974. I shouldn't have gotten the social security I am receiving as it is based on earned income. I don't pay any attention to what doctors say I am incapable of doing. I would think doctors would want to encourage their patients and not write them off.

By SuzanneCol Jun 29, 2008

All this sounds good, HOWEVER I for one would like to know what my diagnosis is. My mental health professioanl has not told me when I asked. Knowing would help me cope better i feel. I think others would feel the same way.

By oxer Jun 28, 2008

After 4 yrs of being treated for Depression and Anxiety unsuccessfully, I kept spiraling down. I knew something else was wrong, but what? I asked my Pdoc and Mdoc if I was Bipolar...b/c I seemed to fit the signs and symptoms, but to a lesser degree...they said NO. It was after a 'breakdown' that I got my PTSD diagnosis...and when I got the diagnosis...it made sense, given my history of SA. It was a 'lightbulb' moment!

NOW...I KNOW what my CORE ISSUE is, and can start healing. Before, I felt my husband and marriage was a big cause of my distress. NOW, I know that I have individual issues to deal with, as well as he has individual issues to deal with. I never thought it was ME that had the problem in our marriage...I thought I was 'perfect.' Now, I know how big a part I am b/c of my past history.

At first I was diagnosed as PTSD vs Bipolar 2...but I knew I was not Bipolar 2. Given my past history, PTSD made more sense. NOW, I am on different meds, therapy has been tailored to PTSD...and I am healing!

Yet, I had to resign from my Nursing Career due to Cognitive Dysfunction that wasn't there prior to my Delayed-Onset PTSD. For me, I am a details person and want to know everything I can about PTSD.

By TLCDaisy Jun 28, 2008

While I have to say that I agree with you, I am one of those types of people who needed to have a "label" in order for me to totally understand what it is that I am dealing with. It wasn't until I was stable on meds and into about my third or fourth session of therapy that my pdoc divulged the diagnosis. When I went in for a meds follow-up and described the miraculous disappearance of some of my symptoms that I had NOT attributed to my diagnosis, he simply stated that it was likely because the meds had helped me get a handle on my anxiety. My schooling in behavioral sciences had the wheels in my head turning, and I had an epiphany that it certainly fit. When he concluded the appointment by stating that our conversation had pretty much confirmed his diagnosis of PTSD, the wheels turned again and everything fit again. My healing process is one where knowledge of the demons I am fighting is power. Understanding that PTSD feeds off triggers has helped my (and my therapist) to identify those triggers and construct workable coping mechanisms.

I am certain that I was NOT diagnosed as part of a catch-all or part of your pervasive labeling disorder, because the center where I was diagnosed was not one that deals directly with PTSD but a university health center that deals more with separation anxiety than anything else. I have since had three other mental health screens that have all confirmed the diagnosis. This was four or five years ago and I can say that I have come a long way in my healing process since, as I am now dealing with sanding away the scar tissue rather than dealing with the gaping wounds.

For some of us, the knowledge of what we are dealing with is instrumental in us being able to research and learn, as well as heal. It allows us to become advocates for others suffering from the same affliction and guides us in being able to work towards a wholeness that we couldn't by "shooting in the dark" abyss of that place where we know that something is not right, but we can't put our finger on it. I know and respect that others don't respond to treatment the same way, but for me, I know that it works.

By revpatty Jun 28, 2008

My question why does ADJUDICATOR SEND ME TO A PSYCHOLOGIST FOR AN IQ TEST. I have a mental illness not a damn IQ problem. Who arranges this nonsense.

By anderla Jun 28, 2008

I agree. But diagnosis provides a language in which we can communicate. It gives a group of symptoms a word. In a world of tags and categories, It allows the diagnosed to find resources, treatment options, and helps them understand what they're going though a little easier.

So there is the other side, although I agree with both.

By SearchingforSolace Jun 27, 2008

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