Thread: bipolar?
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Old 01-04-2006, 07:48 AM
  # 8 (permalink)  
equus
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Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: uk
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I think lots of people get tempted into being convinced they have diagnosed something in someone else. From depression, to alcoholism, obsession to anything they've heard of, people understand some small fraction and see a pattern that isn't there.

EVEN IF a psychiatric diagnostic label fits it should be remembered that those enjoying healthy lives do not seek help in the first place, the process of diagnosis is only SUPPOSED to be used where there is something causing a disruption and interfering with an individual's life. The saying that we could all be diagnosed with something is probably true but we won't be because there's no need to.

Secondly diagnosis is a complex process - not a simple matching process, many conditions can only be diagnosed if other conditions have been excluded, therefore reading about a single diagnostic label can be misleading. Thirdly psychological symptoms are open to interpretation and it takes years of training + developing test to know how to produce an objective conclusion. I believe strongly that it's harmful to diagnose without that knowledge.

That said I think it's often done in all innocence and with more concern than malice. If you don't know how a system works how can you know how much that knowledge would matter? Diagnostics is a fascinating subject, before practicing it there needs to be an understanding of it's history, clinical uses and limitations and above all it's level of accuracy - which in Psychiatry is somewhat less than 100%!! Then of course you need to follow an evaluation procedure that's been shown to work, have access to medical notes and a face to face consultation!!

Anything less than that is just an opinion, using a medical word to express an opinion does NOT give it validity.

I know it's not out of malice but amateur diagnosis drives me potty!!
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