How did you accept or not accept your Mental health diagnosis?

[Pats]

Diagnosed with autism at 59 - and it having answered why life had been so difficult was a relief. But also angry at first that, even with obvious signs, no one took note. They just always said, oh, that's just her. Well, it IS just me, just who I am - but could have used a lot more help. Shoot, could have used some help period.
As far as GAD, PTSD, social anxiety, depression - those things came much sooner and just put a name on things I knew I was experiencing.

 

[Sarah S]

Like Pat here i would also like to Echo her statemnt in when i finaly got my ASD 3 diagnosis (and when i actually find out i HAD it alredy from suspecting i had ) it was the final missing piece in my Life long who am i and why am i not like the others etc... Life long question that i have searched for all my life hoping the profetionals could give the anwer.

I also agree that due to the lack of Knowledge reg this diagnosis even back from my years of birth ( later then Pats) im now were im att in life.

I had all my symtoms clearly visable since birth BUT back then it was all lumped together under MBD ( just under the then MBD diagnosis there were 100 CO morbid diagnosis (incl all of my current diagnosis) & later (beginning of the 80 `s ) when MBD was re named and diagnosed to ADHD.

 

[Tcx]

Dx ASD at 15/16. No rejection because why not? And yet no beneficence comes with it. 21/22-came to this site and learned a lot.
Dx PTSD at 20. No rejection because why not? No treatment for it. 23-came to therapist/another psychiatrist and has been working on it till now.
Dx Depression at 20. Been taking meds for it because it's a fact.

In short: cause those are facts so I accept them and I want to make improvement from them.

 

[Adora]

I was diagnosed with ASD and Complex PTSD at age 31 and I accepted both.The ASD diagnosis was a bit of a surprise,but at the same time it didn’t come as a shock due to the fact I have had suspicions for awhile that I had something else going on about me that was beyond just mental illness.

I didn’t know about the condition Complex PTSD until I was diagnosed with it and before that I was diagnosed with PTSD but I can understand the mixup due to the fact that Complex PTSD is a fairly new diagnosis, but Complex PTSD does match up to the type of trauma I went through.

Before these I was misdiagnosed with numerous of conditions including Psychosis, Agoraphobia and Schizoaffective disorder with the latter being the one I knew wasn’t accurate but at the time I felt like I could not argue about it though it did turn out to be a misdiagnosis.

 

[Fino]

Slowly, in stages, with regular bouts of regression.

 

[Mathalamus]

ive known i was autistic most of my life, but... sometimes i do wonder if my autistic traits could simply be attributed to something else, like being alone too much, or disliking talking in the first place, or other similar things. i never truly accepted that i am autistic, and i always felt that it should be something thats dealt with, as you would a mental illness. or cured outright, but that cant be done. yet. i hope.

 

[homo_aspien]

Selfdiagnosed few months ago while coming out severe burnout that lasted at least three years. Still getting out of it. At first I was extatic because I finally have an answer but today is the first time I'm overwhelmed with dread that I will not be able to take care of myself and be independet for the rest of my life. I'm 30. At this point I'm so disapointed with people that I don't see how or why to even try to go on.
How did you get better? Does it ever get better?

 

[Sarah S]

How did you get better?

Does it ever get better?

In my case im sad to say as i got older and due to the SEVERE high amount of negative stess ive been put thru 24 /7 since birth i regressed in all my diagnosis as well as added new ones . I would say its more you learn to adapt to youre diagnosis and therore yes it gets easier in that since


Sadly with many of this diagnosis (and still this is highly individual as well mind you) they do get worse with age. BUT i wouldent worry to mush about you being able to continue youre life and be independent as you clearly are independent right now so i cant see what would change that at this point. So i suggest focus on NOW and make the best of youre life with what you got to work with and worry less of the future as you cant predict whats gonna happen anyway so no need to worry about it.