Difficult psychiatrist not accepting aspergers diagnosis

Page 2 of 3 [ 43 posts ]  Go to page Previous  1, 2, 3  Next

Tuttle
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Gender: Female
Posts: 3,088
Location: Massachusetts

09 Feb 2012, 3:15 pm

tall-p wrote:
169Kitty wrote:
tall-p wrote:
I guess I am just jaded and cynical. It seems to me that once psychiatrists gets into your life, then they NEVER get out of it. They find a problem, your "diagnosis," and they provide a symptom reliever. But, they must monitor it, and so you must keep on coming back... it never ends.


Yup, you are jaded and cynical. I went to a psychiatrist because I knew there was a problem and I needed help. The things I was trying on my own were not helping and neither was just talk therapy. The diagnosis doesn't really matter because they are not supposed to treat a diagnosis, they treat the symptoms.

Any psychiatrist when you present with a "problem," is going to "treat" you. They will have a plan, a program, to assess you, and then come up with a solution. If they give you drugs, then ask them if you will ever be off these pills?


I can tell you that I have in fact been on medication before, prescribed by a psychiatrist, where the explicit plan from the beginning was that I'd only be on the medication for a short(ish) period of time.

Her role was to manage the medication, so that the other person I was seeing would be more effective working with me. Social anxiety was all I was diagnosed with at the time, but it was known even then that it was secondary to Asperger's, and the point of the medication was to help with the anxiety such that she'd be able to help me more, and then after two and a half years, I was off the medication.

Your descriptions do not match the entire field.



Bun
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jan 2012
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,356

10 Feb 2012, 12:16 am

Callista wrote:
I'm a psychology major... these things are on the test. :lol:

Oh, it makes sense! :D Your sig says you're an engineering student, so I was wondering where all that came from!


_________________
Double X and proud of it / male pronouns : he, him, his


Bun
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jan 2012
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,356

10 Feb 2012, 12:21 am

OliveOilMom wrote:
Bun wrote:
But what does one do if they have severe problems with life (loneliness, etc.), and the psychiatrist is interested in seeing you only as a list of symptoms? That's why psychiatrists should not ever be allowed to give a diagnosis involuntarily, I think that in those cases they do more harm than good. Plus I think it's horrible the way they can label young people, but not be able to tell if they're going through abuse, in which case they need real help like stopping the abuse. I think it's a travesty when the connection between self-injury and abuse is being ignored, and they do it very often. :(


It's no more 'labeling" someone to give a psych dx than it is to give a dx of something like diabetes or epilepsy. You go to a psychiatrist/psychologist for help, they listed to you and make a dx based on their findings. From there they use that dx to treat you. Some dx's are not there for life. For several years my dx was panic disorder and agoraphobia. I was treated for them and I no longer have either. I may have an occasional panic attack, but so do many people and I don't have them often enough to get near "panic disorder". I don't even treat the ones I do get except with distraction and coping techniques which would not work at all when I had panic disorder. I get one maybe four times a year, if that often, and it's been years since I had a full blown one. The agoraphobia is nonexistant now.

Something like a personality disorder may not ever go away completely but it can be managed to the extent that it doesn't interfere with the patient's life any longer and they show no symptoms of it. At that point in time it becomes unimportant and there is no need to inform others of the dx. Something like bipolar or schizophrenia, which must be treated with meds, is going to be a life long "label" dx, and medical personell need to know about it because of the meds that the patient is on.

When I am depressed, my dx is depression. When I am not, that dx does not apply to me, I only have a history of it.

But the thing is, right, it might be a local problem, but... Why is it always the teenager/kid who gets DXed if they have a problem going through life? I never heard of violent or abusive parents getting DXed, and I tend to think that if a parent hits to communicate something (and not as a punishment, but out of lack of life skills to solve probems) then there is a disorder.


_________________
Double X and proud of it / male pronouns : he, him, his


Callista
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 3 Feb 2006
Age: 41
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,775
Location: Ohio, USA

10 Feb 2012, 7:44 am

Bun wrote:
Callista wrote:
I'm a psychology major... these things are on the test. :lol:

Oh, it makes sense! :D Your sig says you're an engineering student, so I was wondering where all that came from!
Both, actually. Human factors--a mix of psychology and engineering, all about how people interact with technology, how they think and learn in their environments; how to design machines that work with people, and work with all sorts of different brains. I've got a pretty equal mix of both types of classes on my transcript.

I should really change that sig, though. I just recently got into the psychology major officially, and I'm taking my first high-level psych classes this quarter. For the first time in my life, my profs know more about psychology than I do, and I'm fascinated! :)


_________________
Reports from a Resident Alien:
http://chaoticidealism.livejournal.com

Autism Memorial:
http://autism-memorial.livejournal.com


flamingshorts
Velociraptor
Velociraptor

User avatar

Joined: 8 May 2009
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Posts: 489
Location: Brisbane Aust

10 Feb 2012, 9:34 am

Is it posisble that the psych had "borderline personality disorder"? That would explain everything. As I have said before "class action lawsuit" is the only realistic solution to this.



Onyxaxe
Deinonychus
Deinonychus

User avatar

Joined: 18 Dec 2011
Age: 34
Gender: Female
Posts: 395

10 Feb 2012, 11:07 am

169Kitty wrote:
tall-p wrote:
I guess I am just jaded and cynical. It seems to me that once psychiatrists gets into your life, then they NEVER get out of it. They find a problem, your "diagnosis," and they provide a symptom reliever. But, they must monitor it, and so you must keep on coming back... it never ends.


Yup, you are jaded and cynical. I went to a psychiatrist because I knew there was a problem and I needed help. The things I was trying on my own were not helping and neither was just talk therapy. The diagnosis doesn't really matter because they are not supposed to treat a diagnosis, they treat the symptoms.


For some people this works but this wouldn't work for me. I have had terrible reactions to every med I have tried and the only thing working is therapy. When you're dealing with 20+ yrs. of self hatred for various reasons using meds isn't going to help. I too had bad depression as a child but there are reasons behind it and once I get away from people that don't give a s**t about me and begin to carry my own weight it won't matter so much. I still believe I am wired to be obsessive, but when people are walking all over me and condemning me for my mentality it makes it that much harder for my mind not to go astray. The last psychiatrist I saw didn't give me a diagnosis but he straight out said "I'm not familiar with Aspergers" and that was the end of that. I didn't come to this conclusion on my own, it was the speculation of another psychologist and my new one appears to want to treat me for Bipolar. He didn't say though, I was just under this impression from the meds he wanted to prescribe. I'll just have to wait and see.



Tawaki
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 30 Sep 2011
Age: 59
Gender: Female
Posts: 1,439
Location: occupied 313

10 Feb 2012, 11:20 am

OliveOilMom wrote:
^^ A dx of borderline can sometimes mean "You are a difficult patient". Really. There are many people with BPD, but I've read in several different places that it's a dx that is sometimes given to difficult patients. It can be used in an almost punitive manner.


Or your a time sink, pain in the ass, high maintenance patient. The classic is the shrink that gives the BPD diagnosis, and turns around telling you, "I don't treat BPD patients, you'll have to find someone else.

Most shrinks, in my area, will not treat BPD.



OliveOilMom
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 Nov 2011
Age: 59
Gender: Female
Posts: 11,447
Location: About 50 miles past the middle of nowhere

10 Feb 2012, 11:58 am

Bun wrote:
OliveOilMom wrote:
Bun wrote:
But what does one do if they have severe problems with life (loneliness, etc.), and the psychiatrist is interested in seeing you only as a list of symptoms? That's why psychiatrists should not ever be allowed to give a diagnosis involuntarily, I think that in those cases they do more harm than good. Plus I think it's horrible the way they can label young people, but not be able to tell if they're going through abuse, in which case they need real help like stopping the abuse. I think it's a travesty when the connection between self-injury and abuse is being ignored, and they do it very often. :(


It's no more 'labeling" someone to give a psych dx than it is to give a dx of something like diabetes or epilepsy. You go to a psychiatrist/psychologist for help, they listed to you and make a dx based on their findings. From there they use that dx to treat you. Some dx's are not there for life. For several years my dx was panic disorder and agoraphobia. I was treated for them and I no longer have either. I may have an occasional panic attack, but so do many people and I don't have them often enough to get near "panic disorder". I don't even treat the ones I do get except with distraction and coping techniques which would not work at all when I had panic disorder. I get one maybe four times a year, if that often, and it's been years since I had a full blown one. The agoraphobia is nonexistant now.

Something like a personality disorder may not ever go away completely but it can be managed to the extent that it doesn't interfere with the patient's life any longer and they show no symptoms of it. At that point in time it becomes unimportant and there is no need to inform others of the dx. Something like bipolar or schizophrenia, which must be treated with meds, is going to be a life long "label" dx, and medical personell need to know about it because of the meds that the patient is on.

When I am depressed, my dx is depression. When I am not, that dx does not apply to me, I only have a history of it.

But the thing is, right, it might be a local problem, but... Why is it always the teenager/kid who gets DXed if they have a problem going through life? I never heard of violent or abusive parents getting DXed, and I tend to think that if a parent hits to communicate something (and not as a punishment, but out of lack of life skills to solve probems) then there is a disorder.


Teens get dx'd because their parents take them to a therapist. The school may suggest it or the parents may notice something. In the US, teens are usually either covered under their parents health insurance or if that is lacking, then Medicaid. There is a way to pay for that. Older people with problems may not have the means to see a therapist, so therefore they don't get a dx. If DHR, (CPS, etc) gets involved in an abusive or neglectful situation, then many times they require a psych evaluation. A person may get dx'd at the psych evaluation. However, the dx isn't always entered into the persons medical record at their doctors office or local emergency room, etc.


_________________
I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
My forum is still there and everyone is welcome to come join as well. There is a private women only subforum there if anyone is interested. Also, there is no CAPTCHA. ;-)

The link to the forum is http://www.rightplanet.proboards.com


Bun
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jan 2012
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,356

10 Feb 2012, 12:01 pm

Alright, thank you.


_________________
Double X and proud of it / male pronouns : he, him, his


MrXxx
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 11 May 2010
Age: 63
Gender: Male
Posts: 5,760
Location: New England

10 Feb 2012, 12:13 pm

Callista wrote:
OliveOilMom wrote:
^^ A dx of borderline can sometimes mean "You are a difficult patient". Really. There are many people with BPD, but I've read in several different places that it's a dx that is sometimes given to difficult patients. It can be used in an almost punitive manner.
Which makes it even worse for the people with actual BPD, because it's getting harder and harder for them to get valid help from someone who doesn't write them off as "difficult patient".


I don't mean to belabor this discussion, but this caught my eye because of what my mother went through.

How she managed to get hold of some of her records from certain doctors who dealt with her, I'm not sure (I think she had lawyers file for them on more than one occasion from different doctors at different institutions), but she did manage more than once to get hold of her medical records. More than once, she found references to "difficult patient" in so many words. She was diagnosed with Clinical Depression, later changed to Manic Depression, and later to BPD (both Bi-Polar and Borderline Personality Disorder by two different doctors).

Over the past few years I've come to strongly suspect she was actually on the Autistic spectrum, and that her many unfortunate experiences with doctors who never looked for that, and misdiagnoses, eventually led to her developing certain strong aspects of real depression, further entrenching the doctor's beliefs that she was either just difficult or really was BPD. She may have actually become that after so many years of misguided treatment for the wrong problem.

It's all speculation on my part, and she's been gone now for eight years, so there's no firm way to know anymore, but it fits.


_________________
I'm not likely to be around much longer. As before when I first signed up here years ago, I'm finding that after a long hiatus, and after only a few days back on here, I'm spending way too much time here again already. So I'm requesting my account be locked, banned or whatever. It's just time. Until then, well, I dunno...


Matt62
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 4 Jan 2012
Age: 62
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,230

10 Feb 2012, 2:59 pm

I think its an ego thing. And not restricted to this field, as I stated previously.
"I'm the EXPERT "HERE", I decided you have this, so I say you have this. PERIOD."
Its especially prevalent in docs who specialize in something. Gastroenterologists are some of the worst. Its NOT the field, its the PLAYER if you get me..

Sincerely,
Matthew



Mmuffinn
Pileated woodpecker
Pileated woodpecker

User avatar

Joined: 4 Oct 2011
Age: 39
Gender: Female
Posts: 181
Location: Ontario, Canada

10 Feb 2012, 7:39 pm

flamingshorts wrote:
Is it posisble that the psych had "borderline personality disorder"? That would explain everything. As I have said before "class action lawsuit" is the only realistic solution to this.

This made me smile. I'm not sure he has BPD, I think he might have narcistic personality disorder, or even antisocial personality disorder.



Bun
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jan 2012
Age: 40
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,356

11 Feb 2012, 12:06 am

Mmuffinn wrote:
flamingshorts wrote:
Is it posisble that the psych had "borderline personality disorder"? That would explain everything. As I have said before "class action lawsuit" is the only realistic solution to this.

This made me smile. I'm not sure he has BPD, I think he might have narcistic personality disorder, or even antisocial personality disorder.

I'm kind of sure I was diagnosed by a woman with NPD plus cognitive issues - she was way too much like my mum for it to be a coincidence, and I don't have as many misunderstandings with other people. It's a fact that I got along with all the other psychotherapists/psychiatrists I've met much better, even if I've met one dodgy one afterwards, she was much better.


_________________
Double X and proud of it / male pronouns : he, him, his