Labels - Mind Blog entry
 

This Blog entry from Mind is good reading. It's about the wisdom - or not - of diagnostic labels.

hey katie- will read this latr ok hon?

almost time to go to werk. and anxiety getting bad and cant concentrate veri well right now.

swity tooi guess..
ugh hope i can make it thru the werk day..
anyway will come bak to this later.
Hiding * w/ sarah it seems*

Ok. :)

I just came across it and thought it might be of interest to people here.

That was really interesting.

I don't know, in my case, if diagnosis is a good thing or not. I've been diagnosed with a number of things in the past and had a lot of confusion about which treatment would be best for me. The changes in diagnosis have often caused a lot of distress and even friction between health professionals. I still don't have a clear picture of what my diagnosis is; it doesn't seem anyone really does anymore.

But I think, for me, it will still take time for me to know me, and to understand what is the best way forward for me. Right now, all I can do is muddle through.

I really wasn't happy with my diagnosis (BPD) because I felt that it was stigmatising and wasn't an illness, therefore 'my fault'. At the time of being given that label (early 1990s) it was seen by many as untreatable and therefore I was refused help from many mh services. However, it was useful later on in getting me into an appropriate service that specialised in BPD as I got the therapy that I much needed.

Now I do not fit the BPD label so although I am in mh serivces, I have no label, which is weird but I feel more like 'me' and less like a collection of symptoms.

btw, Seaneen's blog which is mentioned in the article is fantastic and I definitel recommend it.

Really interesting article. In some ways it can be helpful to have a label as there is an explanation for your thoughts, behaviours etc which can be really helpful. Also it's helpful for professionals so they can support you in the best way possible. However I believe it can also sometimes be bad as we get so caught up in it often making us feel like a failure and abnormal

Maybe its becazuse I havent asked but they've never really given me a diagnosis. I mean on antidepressants and at my age that means severe depression but they've never given me a label at all. personally i think one might help me understand.

I knew i had depression but to be labelled with BPD has been very frustrating for me. I do feel i'm treated differently because of it, and that is a barrier to getting much needed help for my depression. :(

Very interesting indeed. Thank you Katie.