I hear a lot of people say that psychiatrists just give you a checklist of symptoms and diagnose you based on what you checked off. That idea is commonly used as an excuse to self-diagnose. As someone who’s been seeing psychiatrists since I was twelve, I would just like to say fuck off. By saying that, you’re undermining the work they actually put into their long term patients.
A psychiatrist will give you a checklist of symptoms during intake. That first time you meet your psychiatrist. The reason they do this is because they need a general idea of the things you’re experiencing and the issues they may need to address. This is not what they initially use to diagnose you.
A diagnosis is made by the patient addressing their symptoms and talking about the things that happened to them in the past or even happen in their day-to-day life. The patient, when being honest and accurate, will discuss anything bothering them, namely, emotions, thoughts, or actions. To receive an accurate diagnosis, the patient needs to be as thorough as possible. This may take weeks to months, or even years. It isn’t always, but it can be a very lengthy process. This is why you can’t just see a psychiatrist two or three times and then say that they weren’t doing their job. They’re not at fault for that, you are.
Even when they do give you a diagnosis early on, they’re still going by what you tell them. They may start with the most common disorders first and work their way up as they gather information from you. This is why people are commonly misdiagnosed with various types of depression.
They can only diagnose you based on what you tell them. So yes, they do give you a checklist of symptoms, but that’s to get a broad idea. This is not their actual diagnosis tool.
Quit undermining the efforts of good psychiatrists.
I think this post would be more effective if the aggressiveness was toned down, but the sentiment is accurate.
