Re: It's a Two-Fer. And they're both pretty bad (sources are the reason)

[Anonymous]

I see your point with the argument for putting forth a ‘safe bet’ diagnosis. In a relative vacuum, that’s an almost perfectly legitimate course to follow. The problem with my case is that I told this psychiatrist that I had a diagnosis of ADD already, one I had been living with for at least fifteen years up until that point. He seemed to hear me, but kept asking mood-related questions. Some examples:

-Do you ever get depressed? (My answer: Well, sure. Sometimes things make me sad. Isn’t that how everybody works?)

-Do you have racing thoughts? (Answer: Do I!? I’ve thought about four different subject since I sat down.)

-Do you have trouble sleeping? (Answer: Of course I do. The smallest activity can interrupt me and then I’m wide awake.)

-Have you had trouble keeping a job? (Answer: I drift from job to job. I can’t focus on any given activity for any real length of time)

-…and so on.

These questions all relate to Bipolar Disorder. The problem is that my answers (and the answers of many others, I suspect) point directly to an ADD diagnosis. What makes matters worse is that the guy I was answering these questions for had just been told, by me, that I already had a diagnosis, but he felt comfortable chucking that information out the window in favor of using my answers to fit his previously manufactured notion. Comfirmation bias is not a good quality to have if you’re in the business of diagnosing ailments, mental or otherwise.

REPORT ABUSE