I don’t think I’ve ever shared on here, that despite my ultimate diagnosis “label” being CPTSD, I was labeled with SO many other things by MANY diff docs, during my hell period.
Yes I tried over 50 diff psychotropic drug combos, but throughout those 2.5 yrs, I heard the following as to the reasons why I needed to try so many- I was told I had:
Melancholic Depression, Anhedonic Depression, Treatment Resistant Depression, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, OCD – & even had a doc tell me that he believed my cognitive dysfunction was due to ADHD, & so he tried UPPERS – which only made my symptoms worse.
It’s not until I’ve had a chance to look back at those docs now, their sites & credentials (at the time I was in no state to do much research), to see that they had specialities w/in psychiatry. Those specialities…those were the exact ones they were labeling me w, w/o ever doing a deep dive into my trauma history/past. Just a review of my symptoms.
Why share all this? Why share, especially when being open abt the wrongs in this space gets the msg suppressed (like yesterday’s post, unless we hit the jackpot on hashtags)? I do it bc even if these reach 10 ppl, hopefully they get shared w more, & the cover begins to get blown off these things. If so few are sharing their stories- then even fewer are sharing their experiences w all the docs & all the diff labels they’ve been given. These stories need to get out there.
Think of all the reasons we’re labeled. One, above is- doc specialty & what they know best. Another is – the DSM5 is SO subjective. Can you literally find a person on this earth who doesn’t display symptoms of at least mild depression/anxiety/obsessive thinking at some pt in their life?
Our wiring has these things IN them. Sure some manifest worse than others, but if you look hard enough, you can be labeled w just abt ANY of the most common ones.
We’re NOT our labels. I know it may be nice for treatment purposes to fit in…to get insurance to pay…but the brain/body connection is so complex. We’re a collection of our past, genetics, & what we CHOOSE to then do. We are in control. Not a subjective label.
