So as a minor point in mine and J's meeting with the crisis team to discuss our complaint (happy days!), the head of the crisis team was adamant that a dissociative disorder came under personality disorders, saying that it was under personality disorders in the ICD-10. Now my low-level research suggests that dissociative disorders have a section (F44) in "Neurotic, stress-related and somatoform disorders" with the personality disorders checking in at F60-69.
I would not like to casually dismiss the head of the crisis team as an idiot, so can anyone offer any alternative explanation as to why she would have said that? Am I misunderstanding something?
We discussed that dissociation could be a symptom of BPD, but I made it clear at that particular point that I was talking about dissociative disorders, in particular Dissociative Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.
I'm not just trying to be pedantic, but understanding this might help us understand why the crisis team generally appear to not understand J's dissociative symptoms.
I don't know the "real" answer to this or the research behind it b know at uni we get taught that DID and related disorders come under the PD spectrum. So maybe that's what the nurse have been taught.
However, why does it matter if it a PD symptom or not? As far as I know J is getting the right treatment for DIDNOS (ie schema therapy and medication).
The average,
well-adjusted adult
gets up at 7.30am feeling just plain terrible.
Call me Kate.
I have dyslexia so please excuse my poor spelling and sometimes poor understanding.
It matters because dissociation as a symptom of a personality disorder is different to having a dissociative disorder, otherwise she wouldn't have both diagnoses, and we both feel that part of the reason the crisis team is often quite unhelpful for J is that I don't think they understand dissociation as a separate diagnosis. Our complaint pertained only to the crisis team, not her regular treatment.
As a side point, it also matters because part of my BPD is black and white thinking and my brain can't compute people saying things that aren't true :P
Yep, have heard that they're very good! If when she is discharged from le NHS therapist she is still having major dissociation issues, we will definitely look into the services they offer.
Hi Jenna I have downloaded in the past for uni the icd 10. Dissociative disorders I believe is F44 . If it would help I could try ( I fail at technology) to email you that page or pages if it would help. Pm me if it would be useful. Good luck to you both.
the pottergat centre have thes e tests you can do the DES and something else nad you fill it out an d email it back and they score it ad send it back via email.
i showed it to my cpn and she put it on the notes and showed the psychologist so they take it seriously and thats jut for dissociative disroders, nothing to do with bpd or anything. totally separate!
I'm fine! Totally fine. I don't know why it's coming out all loud and squeaky, 'cause really, I'm fine!
Beckie, she's already done the DES at the old CMHT, but I wonder if that got lost somewhere along the way, so will see if we can locate that!
Jess, aside from wildly inaccurate claims about the ICD, they were actually really helpful in terms of addressing our complaints and I feel confident that, apart from the dissociation issue, they will take our feedback on board and encouraged us to ring her directly if we ever have an issue with the crisis team :)
Ah I see what you mean. Hopefully your complaint will educate the crisis team on how to treat J if she has another episode.
My guess is it's lack of training. We have only covered dissasosiative disorder briefly on my course. I've learnt load about schizophrenia and bipolar and depression but dissasosiative disorders are rarely mentioned. Probably because they are not very common and therapy is the best treatment for them and nurses and taught therapies.
What exactly would you like the crisis team to do when J is suffering with her DIDNOS? Maybe making that clear will help them treat her appropriately.
The average,
well-adjusted adult
gets up at 7.30am feeling just plain terrible.
Call me Kate.
I have dyslexia so please excuse my poor spelling and sometimes poor understanding.
I'm sorry this happened but I'm glad you're on the ball enough to complain because I have dissociative issues too- and wih 90% of drs it's ignored and cast aside, and it's very difficult to understand it myself over time because I've had so much ignorance about it. One episode in A&E was put on notes as "a depressive episode" just ugh! Because it sounds like I have a similar set of Dx with the DD being separate from BPD.
So I'm glad you have the confidence and etc needed to complain.
