Question about DSM

[Kire]

somebody said that Axis 2 diagnoses can "haunt you" for the rest of your life, if you get one, but it looks like that is what is going to be the case for me

I was reading what it says about Borderline personality and it fits what's going on with me very closely, especially all of the stuff about attachments.

Furthermore, is it true that once you're diagnosed, you're stuck with it for life, even if something changes and you have a new dominant diagnosis? I hope i'm making myself clear. My recently fired therapist kept telling me that in order for me to change me diagnosis, I'd have to go back to the first doctor to give me one. But, that guy I saw in a hospital for all of 10 minutes a day for less than two weeks in a hospital. Besides, he's far away now, and he was about as warm and inviting as a cactus plant.

I figure what I'll do is just look at it all as a theory. Like they say in Sociology, you don't have to be a Marxist to read Marx.

[mopinko]

1. the trouble with labels.

i don't really know the answer to your question. but i know that there is more to a dx than how well you match the dsm. especially since so many symptoms occur in so many patients. my daughter is bipolar, but has had psychotic features. she is also borderline, apparently.
she can medicate her bp,(if she wants to) so that is a useful dx for her. i don't know, med wise, what borderline means for her. but it is very helpful for me to have that info. she has hated me, except when she wanted something, for a long time. i know that i have been a decent mom, and don't deserve that. not perfect, i have had troubles of my own. but the level of turmoil around this is different now, because the dx has given me a level of understanding that let's me cope with her feelings.

all of which is to say that i hope your dx does not "haunt" you. i hope that it helps you and yours. and i hope you can find a therapist that you can click with. that is a tough thing to do. even though they are trained people, it can be hard to keep a good relationship, and you need that to trust what they say.
take care.

[ernstbass]

2. Axis II diagnoses

are personality disorders which refer to the "make-up" of the person and these traits typically don't change. Axis I diagnoses refer to an acute or chronic condition (for example you can have major depression but it can be in remission). There is no law against having an axis I diagnosis and an axis II diagnosis (or several diagnoses). You can certainly learn to manage personality disorders by being aware of symptoms and behavior patterns. Try not to get too caught up in the labels because they are just categories that people are placed in and we all are individuals in spite of our labels. (I hope this helped)

[Tallison]

3. Some good news is that

while personality disorders tend to be more treatment-resistant than many diagnoses, their symptoms (and hence the distress they cause to the sufferer) tends to abate with age. This is in contrast to the symptoms of bipolar cycling and psychotic disorders (like schizophrenia) which, while more treatment responsive, tend to gradually worsen over a person's lifetime (though of course there are exceptions to this, like everything else in MI).