5 weeks of Hell
“As any doctor can tell you, the most crucial step toward healing is having the right diagnosis. If the disease is precisely identified, a good resolution is far more likely. Conversely, a bad diagnosis usually means a bad outcome, no matter how skilled the physician.” Andrew Weil
This quote speaks to anyone who has been misdiagnosed and had to suffer for months due to inappropriate treatments. Undeniably, the monetary costs as well as emotional and physical suffering that misdiagnosed patients must go through should not be taken lightly.
The accuracy of pathology diagnosis is important to describe and explain the cause of a disease but it is also important to ensure proper treatment. Certainly for the diagnosis of mental disorders, several sources and more time should be invested to assure validity. Indeed, one must be careful when diagnosing, rushing the diagnosis by not asking proper questions or asking biased and leading questions can lead to a misdiagnosis. Unquestionably, assuming a diagnosis because of a probable pathology that has similar symptoms and is common might lead to misdiagnosis. In certain cases, misdiagnosis can lead to serious consequences due to improper treatment. For instance, it can sometimes be difficult to know whether the cause is purely physical or a mental disorder causing somatic symptoms.
I experienced a misdiagnosis first hand as a teenager and it cost me 5 weeks in the hospital getting improper treatment, not to mention the consequences of stigma. Like Taylor says: “Haters gonna hate, hate hate”! A doctor misdiagnosed me with an eating disorder when in fact I had a physiological problem with my gastric system. Although I tried explaining that it was not an eating disorder and my family and friends clearly backed me up, this doctor, who is a specialist in eating disorders choose to ignore any other possibilities. Ever heard of the confirmation bias? Today I know that his judgment was biased when assessing my diagnosis. He asked leading questions and interpreted the responses to get the information necessary to confirm the diagnosis he had preconceived.
In order to avoid making mistakes, health professionals, such as psychologists, may use testing in order to provide information that is important for diagnostic decisions. Issues with sensitivity and specificity can be rectified by using several tests when diagnosing. It is worth taking the time to get a full picture of the problem in order to get a proper treatment plan which will encourage quicker results and fewer side effects. Unfortunately, achieving the correct diagnosis is not always straightforward due to possible unwillingness of physicians to use many tests (in order to avoid monetary costs), as well as the complexity of human illness with frequent overlapping symptoms.
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(In case you’re wondering, when you’re hospitalized for an eating disorder they have you take sessions with a psychologist every now and then and I only saw mine once because she realized my diagnosis (made by the psychiatrist) was wrong right away…#duh #nosh*tsherlock #psych4life☺❤)
