"Popular" diagnoses!?

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My old psychiatrist discussed with me that at some times certain diagnoses get popular and others don't, so the people get just shift around the diagnoses, depending which diagnoses are popular at that time and wich are not.

I was thinking about it, and if I'm just diagnosed with my diagnoses, because they are just "popular" at the moment?
But on the other hand they just seem to fit.

So, how is it?
Why do some diagnoses get diagnosed more at certain times?
Weren't they known before or are the really just overdiagnosed at certain times?

Is it even possible to find the "right" diagnosis for everyone or are the people just "pushed" into a certain diagnosis?

It's hard to tell if anyone is put into exactly the right category, so to speak, because a lot of diagnoses have overlapping symptoms.
I was talking to my clinical psychology professor once and he said that every so often there'll be popular disorders where people do get overdiagnosed or wrongly diagnosed with because more people are aware of it and doctors become more willing to diagnose people with them. He mentioned that ADHD and bipolar are two of the more recent ones.

But he did say that if you have a good psychiatrist who's experienced and uses rigorous test methods to be sure of your dx, then it's probably right. I'm quite sure I was "pushed" into the bipolar category because my doctor didn't even test me or anything; he just asked me a few questions for less than half an hour and prescribed medication. (I didn't even take the medication, and so far I've been completely symptom free.) So in that case, I'm taking it as a popular diagnosis thing and just ignoring it. I wish I could get it off my medical record though. D:

Yes this sounds like a truely wrong diagnosis. I also had a simmilar situation a while ago with a psychiatrist. This is just ignorance of the psychiatrist I guess.

But I also think very often it is just a matter of opinion.
In my old city there was one autism-centre and a ADHD-centre.
So the Autism-center diagnosed children with an ASD diagnosis and the other centre rediagnosed the same children again with ADD/ADHD. I also went once to the ADHD centre and they toled me that I couldn't possible have HFA because I went to a normal school.

But there are opinions like this even about ASD, that it is extremely rare with kind of extreme social symptoms and everything else is just ADHD or whatever.

One shrink said I had "mild" AS, but he couldn't treat me , another social worker after spending a full five minutes with said I didn't have AS, my current shrink concurs I have AS and I am now receiving therapy.

One must really wonder which people need help.

I began seeking diagnosis in 2003, soon after my brother died of accidental toxicity from his meds. I felt as if The Man killed him, and I went in to get diagnosed.

It's been a long, arduous journey, but after much hassle and trips to purported experts, I finally found the diagnosis that fit, Aspergers. That is, it feels like it fits my symptoms. I'd got sick of being told I'm this or that when it didn't fully match the criteria listed in the not-so-thorough DSM. When I asked the experts what about my other symptoms, I got nothing.

Yes, I agree that doctors are as susceptible to trends as any of us, but this is why you need to be your own best advocate. Or find someone who can act as an advocate for you. It took me almost nine years to find diagnosis that feels right, but once I found it, I just knew it was right.

I agree, I have the same with my Autism and Tourette (I just identify as having a Tic-disorder I guess, but I have slight vocal tics sometimes, so I actually have Tourette). Especcially with my autism I have this feeling that it totally fits. I don't know why this opinion of this shrink buged me that much...!

Where I'm not sure is my depressions. Sometimes I think it's just depression I have once in a while or agitated depression or whatever and sometimes I think it's clearly Bipolar II and sometimes I even think about slight schizoaffective tendencies.
And I read about it and talked with others and even no shrink could answer me that question for sure.

On Depression:

For me, I believe my mild depression is associated with all the anxiety I get from being confused all the time. Anxiety winds me up and then depression winds me down. It's like an enforced time out in which I have to nap or keep to myself.

Since I've stopped looking at my depression as something wrong with me, that is as something that is a response to outside forces, I've felt a lot better.