i got my test results back

[enfield]

and it said i was gay! can you believe that. i can't believe it. it must be a false positive. man, i hate false positives. it's enough to give a boy a heart attack to find out something like this from an error prone test, that he is gay in addition to all his other issues. can you sue for the emotional damages brought on by receiving a false positive? if it happens twice im definitely suing for all that they are worth!! i know what they'll say, that the test results are right, that those weren't false positives but legitimate ones, but i just cannot be gay, so i will hire the most fucking qualified and prestigious gayologists i can find and that money can buy to disprove my gayness and contest the results. it will be worth it because once i win the the lawsuit i can pay off the gayologists and then some.

misdiagnosis blows and the worst part is that you live under the shadow of the illness until you can get it officially removed. it's like your life is in doubt and on hold in some ways until you get it dealt with. its not enough to know you don't have it, you have to get it exonerated by a medical professional because it was attached to you by one.

[Chantellabella]

Not sure what your point is, but what I got out of what you said was that people tend to "be" their diagnosis, even if the test was not accurate. (Not sure I would have used your wording or your joke to open the discussion as those who are gay may be hurt or offended with your analogy).

But yes, I have seen where a diagnosis is way off and yet, a person will believe it, start to even develop stronger symptoms in that area. When I was in private practice, I did psychological, educational and developmental testing. This was before psychologists wanted that job all for themselves. But I'm grandfathered in to still test in my home state, so "nanny nanny boo boo." But I digress.

Testing and diagnosis involves administering many different types of written and oral tests as well as getting a social and family history. While many symptoms may point to a diagnosis, tests can be skewed by life circumstances, drugs you may be taking that day, and how much sleep you had. Your outlook on life can be vastly different from one day to the next and therefore, you answer the questions differently. Yes, there are strains of getting the same results because you're set in many ways that are not affected by environment. But my point is that tests can be wrong.

So, psychological tests need to be taken as a "possibly you may have these tendencies," rather than it being "who you are."

Was that close to your point enfield, or were you just trying to tell an offensive joke?

Thanks,

Cindy

[Otherside]

I'm not sure what you were on about either, but if it is something to do with homosexuality, just a word of warning. I'm a mod (I apologize if this is wrong), and you agreed to the TOC's. Pretty sure homophobia is on there. but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

As for misdiagnosis, yes. Seriously, I'd be suspicious if a psych diagnosis's first meeting, without any sort of history and reports from other professionals from there.

Self diagnosis is the devil as well. Too many people now diagnosing things that are pretty serious with the excuse "I know myself better than any psych." And here's the thing. From personal expierence, when you're really really unwell, often you have a scewed view of what's going on around you, and you really don't know what's going on. Sometimes, you don't even know there's something odd about your behaviour, let alone that there's something wrong. That's why it's called "mania" and "psychosis", and why people end up being held under section 3's because of that. Because they refuse treatment because there isn't anything wrong.

And then in both cases, as chanty said, placebo effect. And they start believing totally normal things are symptoms of an illness.

Let's put it this way. I came across someone who looked at the mania symptoms and saw "excessive spending." She decided that spending a grand total of £10 on her shopping one week counted as that, and then used the excuse "oh but i don't have much money anyway" and "I needed some of it to pay the gas bill" as an excuse for why she didn't spend more. Here's the thing. You don't give a fucking [BEEP] when your manic about what you need to spend the money on, or how much debt you'll get into if you spend and spend and spend. You don't give a damn if you'll get evicted if you spend it all on crap and then get evicted because you didn't pay the rent. You just don't.

Or somebody aged 16 using the "I stay up late" as a reason for destructive behaviour. I mean, come on. Every single fucking sixteen year old I know will stay up late. They don't just diagnose themselves as Borderline because they do that. Destructive behaviour is...well, excessive spending, quitting your job on impulse, ruining friendships, drug taking, having unprotected sex with random strangers. I have met Borderlines. Honestly, claiming "staying up late" is destructive is completley insulting of what "destructive behavuour" is.

Or what's the latest craze...OH I HAVE DID!!!! Let's make up all these new words such as "headmate" (???), "Fronting", and "Multiple System"!!! We also need new pronouns new so you're going to call me "sprout" instead of he! And then let's make millions of posts all over the place roleplaying different alters. Oh, and my alter, or I mean *ahem", "headmate", just so happens to be Tyrion Lannister.

Ugh, and then these people have the audacity to declare that it's "there identity" and they don't need treatment. Well here's some fucking news, from a diagnosed sufferer of bipolar disorder.

For fucks sake, you godamn do.

If you really have bipolar, you fucking well need treatment. I cannot function if I miss one dose of meds.

God.

[Otherside]

Well that quickly became a rant.

[Chantellabella]

Well that quickly became a rant.

It's ok. You seemed to need to get that out.

As my therapist would say, "Feel better?"

[Otherside]

It's ok. You seemed to need to get that out.

As my therapist would say, "Feel better?"

Yeah, I just needed to get it out. I'm just sick of people minimizing something that I spent a year and a half trying to get under control and that's literally trashed any life I had before this started and claiming it as an "identity."

[Inscrutable Banana]

Yeah, I just needed to get it out. I'm just sick of people minimizing something that I spent a year and a half trying to get under control and that's literally trashed any life I had before this started and claiming it as an "identity."

Nothing wrong with the occasional rant, they are rather cathartic.

As for enfield's original post...I'm not sure what to make of it, so I don't have much of a response.