I saw a post yesterday of someone explaining why they don’t want to get a diagnosis and it really stuck with me. I saw a lot of people coming from a place of wanting or not wanting it based on the people around them not themselves. I wanted to share why I got diagnosed. There are really only 2 reasons.
I am very very good at talking myself out of things. When doing that I will forego all the things that were helping me, as I feel like I don’t need them anymore. My mom also has a hard time with these diagnoses and will talk me out of it too. With this “official” label it allows me to remember, bro you do have this, stop wasting time and feeling sick pondering this. You have it, and you now know what you need to do to help yourself.
The second reason is that I am a very analytical person, and very into biology & treatments, as I was in school to be a nurse. When I know a treatment or at least a rough set of things I can do to help myself, I do them. The way to treat dissociation is pretty specific and different from other things. A lot of solutions to other things can hinder our healing too. The ways to treat bipolar were making me much worse without realizing it. If I didn’t have DID they would have worked great. I wanted a diagnosis so I had the framework of what to work on and how.
The only reason to seek a diagnosis is to help yourself, please don’t let other peoples perspectives and attitudes influence you. If you discover you personally don’t think a diagnosis will help you, then there is no need to get one. My therapist isn’t a big fan of an official diagnosis due to how it can validate or invalidate people, but once I explained my reasonings she understood why I needed one.