can therapists lie if the truth would be unbearable to their client? on the very first session, my therapist asked me how i'd feel if it turned out that i only have traits of a disorder but not an actual mental disorder. i replied i wouldn't believe her. that was three years ago, but validity of my OCD and struggles in general is a huge theme for me and when she first diagnosed me with GAD and SAD after a few months, i had a major, three days long episode where i genuinely felt like i was forcefully locked inside my brain and forced to run in loops, because i had gone to her specifically because i knew i had something more than just anxiety. i kept searching and checking to prove that it couldn't be just that. it was an incredibly painful loop. now im paranoid that she has only diagnosed me with OCD because of this. im worried that she might be saying it only to make me happy, because if she said otherwise i would stop collaborating and simply quit therapy. what if she's only playing along so i won't be upset? it seems very realistic because she's always vague and rarely uses clinical terms, even if she knows that i know enough about psychology to understand her if she did use them.

pureolife

Date posted: 5y

Giving you a diagnosis she doesn’t genuinely believe you have would be unethical and could get her disbarred from practicing. She cannot “lie” to you about your diagnosis. And the worries you elaborate here are highly indicative of OCD rumination. Perhaps you can talk with her about this paranoia and even address it with some ERP? People with OCD often doubt the validity of their diagnosis, and it can even become the center of our obsessions.

dpveritasgold

Date posted: 5y

@pureolife is right. Fear of not actually having OCD is a common symptom of OCD. But let’s consider something for a second. Take someone who has OCD 100% for sure, and send them to 100 therapists for a diagnosis. In all likelihood, not all 100 therapists will agree with the OCD Diagnosis. That means that a number of therapists gave a false diagnosis. 1 therapist’s diagnosis doesn’t define you.

sunshinedaisy

Date posted: 5y

Although a diagnosis is helpful, it is just a diagnosis, just words that can help you figure out what interventions you need. So if ERP or ACT is helpful then that’s great. But I relate because when I saw a new psychiatrist, he didn’t seem convinced about my OCD probably because I didn’t share a lot because I wasn’t sure if I felt comfortable

eternalblue

Date posted: 5y

thank you both for answering. rather than a "fake" diagnosis (in my country private psychologists don't give out any documents that certify your diagnosis, they only tell you during sessions), im scared that she's being vague on purpose by telling me that i have "an obsessive profile", "obsessive-compulsive mechanisms", "a primarily obsessive and anxious disorder with comorbidity", "these are traits of OCD", instead of just saying clearly "you have OCD", and uses all these vague expressions that hint at just traits to avoid saying "you don't really have full blown OCD". sorry, i should have made this more clear in the post. her vagueness with words drives me insane and im scared of asking her something like "can you repeat to me exactly what's the diagnosis" because not only it's reassurance seeking so she probably wouldn't do it, but also i would hurt her feelings because it would seem like i doubt her abilities. she said that exposure worked for some of my past themes (harm mostly, which is more under my control now), but not this one because it's really so deeply rooted in me, and every exposure attempt ended really, really badly (i have some self harm compulsions). CBT didn't work either so we're gonna try ACT as well.

pureolife

Date posted: 5y

You said she rarely uses clinic terms, but those sound like plenty of clinical terms to me! And not vague at all. I think she’s responding to your tendencies with very specific descriptions and I see no reason to distrust her assessments of you. If having her specifically say “you have OCD” is important to you, tell her that! People have different opinions on receiving a formal diagnosis. For some, it’s a relief. For others, it’s like a mark that they thing pigeonholes them and doesn’t allow others to see them as individuals. She may be trying to prevent you from feeling like your experiences are being generalized to be like all OCD when yours are specific to you.

pureolife

Date posted: 5y

@pureolife Think* not thing

eternalblue

Date posted: 5y

@pureolife thank you so much, i followed your advice and told her about this, and she agreed to make an assessment of the situation together to have an updated full view of my issues and comorbidities rn, and to address this first and work on this obsession specifically. i cant thank you enough, this really helped me so much. :)

ATT2001

Date posted: 21w

I believe I was misdiagnosed

Hello there. I’m new here and think I may have OCD I’ve struggled with anxiety my whole life. However, in my early teens, I started experiencing obsessive fears and engaging in compulsions because my brain convinced me that if I didn’t perform a certain action a specific number of times, it would “prove” that I wanted something terrible to happen. When I was 17, I began seeing a therapist and opened up to her about this. She diagnosed me with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and I accepted the diagnosis But last night, I became curious about whether people with GAD engage in compulsions and have specific fears, so I looked it up. I was shocked to learn that these are not typical characteristics of GAD Now, I would love to find a therapist who specializes in OCD so I can get a formal diagnosis and the appropriate treatment

Imnew@this

Date posted: 8w

Therapy today.

(21+ ONLY: TRIGGER WARNING) I have therapy today and I’m nervous. I just started going to therapy and I really like my therapist. She talked to me about doing ERP and I’m really nervous about it. I’m scared to tell her the extent of my OCD, and my themes. I’m scared to tell her about my false memory OCD, because I’m scared that what I did was real and I’m just excusing it as false memory, although I have no memory of it. I’m scared that I am truly a monster and I’m using OCD as an excuse—and that she’ll find out and distance herself. I’m just scared that my whole world is gonna fall apart, all around me.

samlovesjesus

Date posted: 8w

kind of a rough day

i’m trying to not let the thoughts bother me but it’s just so stressful. even me typing that feels like i’m lying when i know i’m not. i’m scared because even my therapist tells me that it’s just ocd, but in the back of my mind i slightly don’t believe her, and its making me scared that i AM like those people and im gonna act on something. sometimes in social moments i get a quick thought of me being an outcast because im like those people who are sick in the head and act on that stuff, and it just makes me feel like i truly am gonna eventually act on something. another thing that bothered me is earlier my mom yelled at me for not doing school work (it was well deserved im really slacking on it) and i had like no reaction to her screaming. it had me thinking what if i have no empathy etc etc, and what if i get mad that she yelled at me and i do something involving those thoughts. how do i TRULY know it’s ocd? like i try to remind myself and be like “dude, your therapist said it’s ocd, she isn’t wrong” but the back of my mind is like “she is wrong, it’s not ocd and she just happened to misdiagnose you. you are gonna act on those thoughts and it’s your fate”. please someone respond if you read all of this, im really struggling

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