Receiving a mental health diagnosis can bring a sign of relief, confusion, or anger. Often times people believe that a mental health diagnosis changes them from who they once were to someone who is sick. The truth is the diagnosis is just a piece of information. It is a piece of information that gives all of your providers a better understanding of what is going on. This can help with getting you on the right medications, educating you to manage your symptoms, and effective therapeutic interventions.
A word of caution. Google is my best friend. We talk several times a day and have practically explored the world together…or at least the world wide web. But…Google can be dangerous when it comes to medical diagnoses. You will get good information, false information, information about risks that are incredibly rare. Google can be a long road to more anxiety and confusion. Proceed with caution if you must.
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Being informed and learning about your illness is great. Believe it or not good providers want you to have a thorough understanding of your illness. So here are my suggestions. Ask your therapist, doctor, or psychiatrist to help explain your illness. If you are confused or would like additional information, see if there are any articles they can print off or books they could recommend. They may not have all the answers at the time you ask but they know how to search for them and get accurate information.
It is also important to remember that not all information described in a diagnosis will pertain to you. I have had OCD for almost my entire life. That said I have had a messy room for almost my entire life! This can catch people by surprise, but you do not need to be organized in every aspect of your life to have a diagnosis of OCD. Reading the most prominent articles on the internet about OCD would probably make me question the diagnosis, feel like there was something wrong, and take my focus away from addressing my issue and my very real OCD. In fact, I spent an entire session as a teenager forcing my therapist to prove I was OCD. Over a decade later I can look back on this with humor but it’s important to understand the point. Know where to go for more information and talk it over with your provider. Not everything will apply to you because mental health diagnoses are not a one size fits all.
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