How do you cope with ret*d psychiatrists?

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I diagnosed myself Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD), and i've been looking for a psychiatrist to get treatment for it that i can find in a private consult (because i study medicine so because of all the prejudices i can't go treat myself at hospitals because a lot of people knows me). I finally find one after months of searching, he gives me an appointment for 3 months later (considering i've been close to suicide many times so its not something that can wait that much). I waited and waited, finally i got the appointment. I showed him why i think i have BPD, gave him all the examples. I showed him the DSM-IV criteria of how to medically diagnose that illness (which says if you meet 5 or more of the criteria presented you have medical BPD), i not only meet 5, i meet all of the criteria, and the f*****g idiot diagnosed me with depression, where i don't meet even half the criteria to diagnose.

Im so pissed right now. I can't keep waiting and suffering till he figures out what i have. I already did all the fking job for him and put it in his face, all he has to do is treat me, and its not like the treatment is abusable by addicts, half of it is the same as the treatment for depression dx. Then after i put the correct dx to his face he makes a wrong dx and gives wrong treatment? WHAT THE HELL SERIOUSLY

Well did you ask him why? There might be a reason that he did that.

all psychiatrists seem to diagnose someone with depression in the first place. don't know why. maybe because the assurance will pay it then? at least in europe, that's the case.
since depressions prevent from a normal life, from school/studies/work, while all the other behavior is not so relevant, including odd behavior

I avoid them and find alternative ways to deal with my s**t.
Not everyone's cup of tea.
But it works for me

I avoid them and find alternative ways to deal with my s**t.
Not everyone's cup of tea.
But it works for me

I've to agree with that. My first(!) diagnosis was "recurring depression" and it was my first time being depressed. It's just such a popular dx in my country that I don't care anymore if someone dx me with depression or not. I think they dx it that often, because it fits in many cases and is one of the least stigmatising mental disorders and then they can continue searching. Usually they don't give severe mental disorders in the first setting. Just in severe cases like being severely psychotic or something.

My psychiatrist needed 1 1/2 years actually to dx me with schizotypal. So I really wouldn't worry. They treat you as a person and not a label per se. The dx doesn't say that much about your specific problems, just how you deal with them. It doesn't matter that much. Isn't there a way to get into therapy?

Also I've to say that many psychiatrists don't like it when you do the job for them. Of course you can give the opinion but it's their job to dx, even if you're not satisfied with it. I guess he gave you another appointment? In the next appointment I would tell him your frustration, because you think your problem is something else than plain depression. Maybe he just wants to look. Many ppl self-dx and some are correct about it and some aren't. It's not really possible to analyse oneself. I'm sure that if you're really BPD that he'll find out and you always have the opportunity to get a second opinion.

The moment you tell a Dr you have already diagnosed yourself, you are written off as a hypochondriac or as having Münchausen syndrome.

Never tell a Dr you know what it wrong with you. Many have large superiority complexes. Just tell them your symptoms. Then when they make the diagnosis, they get to feel all smart and powerful.

I wouldn't go that far. Some might think that way, but in general they don't like it when you do the work for them.



Thankfully my psychiatrist is not like this, but nearly all psychiatrists I've met like to think like that. I also had really bad discussions with psychiatrists in the past, now I just don't care about them anymore. I don't care anymore what they dx me, write down about me and nothing. Since then I've a lot less stress, but I also don't aspect the system that it could be helpfull for me. I think that's called "resignation". In fact the mental health system just made everything worse and I even got traumatised several years ago by being put away in the locked ward. They told me afterwards this has been a mistake. So I've been traumatised by mistake and was told such things can happen.

When I first saw my psychiatrist, I went in thinking I was possibly bipolar, and had a list of symptoms that supported that. I told her I had done some research and this was what I thought it could be, but I was hoping she could tell me what's what since she's the expert. She asked me a few clarifying questions, and then said, yep, I think you're right.

I think having the proper deference is important. The tone of your post is very confrontational and know-it-all. You apparently for all your medical studies do not yet have a degree, and the doctor does. I imagine your tone was off-putting in your meeting with the psychiatrist.

make sense ...

i also told my first therapist that I have possibly bipolar disorder. He did not even fully agree with me but he treated me like I was one.
However, most of the time he didn't know anything about my Klinefelter syndrome and possible associations with development disorders.
Therefore, in the end he was on the wrong way and after I told him about it I did not have the opinion he learned much about it for himself.

concluding it is important to have a specialist who is interested in new science results.

Please just don't say "ret*d". Please say lame or something else. Okay give me a second to read what you had to ask.

That sounds like you seriously need to branch out and find other pdocs because they work for you and not the other way around. If you're not getting help, you need to keep searching to find someone who will help you. Don't get mad at me about the "ret*d" thing. It's just, it's been stricken from use and is considered derogatory towards people with downs syndrome and they have a hard enough time as it is.

I did a full work up psych eval for BPD but personally, I think I was misdiagnosed and that I really should have been diagnosed as aspergers. Most doctors I talk to say definitely no to BPD even with the diagnosis. If you can afford it you should get an evaluation.

I deffinetly agree.

There are three reasons why psychiatrists use the dx BPD:

1) the patient is difficult to deal with
2) the psychiatrist doesn't know what the patient has and has to diagnose something
3) the patient really has BPD

That's why I personally think, BPD is such a difficult label, because many ppl I know once got misdiagnosed with it and psychiatrists misuse it so often for other purposes and this doesn't help the patients who get misdiagnosed and also not the ppl who really have BPD.

I was also once misdiagnosed with it (actually it was a suspicion of borderline traits, yes a suspicion of having traits ) because out of reason 1 and 2. I had a trauma from the locked ward and couldn't calm down afterwards so long I stayed in the psychiatry. Years later I talked with one of the psychiatrists who misdiagnosed me back then and he just responded: "well, I had to diagnose something"

Last edited by Raziel on 07 Jun 2014, 1:59 pm, edited 3 times in total.

Quit thinking you know more than an ACTUAL doctor who specializes in treating mental disorders!