On The Bus; Labels
In my youth, as a college student, I had the dubious privilege of being a student representative on the Biological Sciences Study Committee. This was only a couple years after Watson and Crick had published their book on DNA and the double helix. The science of using DNA to identify organisms was new. But this new evidence showed that many kinds of organisms that had been previously grouped together and thought to be related because of physical similarities, were not related at all and logically belong to another group of organisms. The change of names and categories resulted in mass confusion that lasted for several years. But there was a purpose and a goal; that all biologist would use the same updated nomenclature, and thus know what each other were talking about. The Banded Winged Grasshopper couldn’t care less what we called it!
It is kind of like that in the mental health community. The names of the various conditions, diagnoses, disorders, and symptoms are more for their professional use than our benefit.
Recently, I spoke to the mother of an individual who had been diagnosed as schizophrenic. He did not like this diagnosis and became episodic when it was used to describe his condition. He much preferred the term Bipolar. It did not change his disorder, just the name, and made it easier to get along with him.
Personally, as I read through the mental health literature, it appears that I have symptoms from across the spectrum of various illnesses. Though my diagnosis remains, “Chronic Recurrent Depression.”
The symptoms that indicate depression and mania are common to an entire host of both mental and physical ailments. This must be difficult for professionals. What appears on the surface to be a relatively simple and treatable disorder, may have terribly complicated undercurrents. If you feel that you have been misdiagnosed, It may be that there is something that you have not told your doctor. Not intentionally, but it may be something that you think is normal, which your doctor may think is critical to your diagnosis and treatment.
If you visit http://psychcentral.com/diagnosis/, you will see a list of 75-80 different mental disorders and conditions. The author admits that it is by no means complete.
The banded winged grasshopper doesn’t care what biologist calls it. It’s life didn’t change because some committee changed it‘s scientific name. It still has to eat leaves, avoid the birds, and make little grasshoppers! Do not get upset if your doctor gives you a label that you don’t like, or if they change your label from one thing to another. You are still the same person. You still have to follow your doctors directions, take your medication, and take care of yourself, grasshopper!
