Diagnosis! HOW IMPORTANT IS IT? | Kati Morton

Hey, everybody! Happy Thursday.

Now, today's question comes from Twitter.

I hopped over there and asked you all
what you wanted me to talk about today,

and I got a ton of requests, so if this
question isn't yours, don't worry.

I've jotted them all down in my list and
those are coming soon.

So make sure you're subscribed, and make
sure you have your notifications turned

on, 'cause you don't want to miss 'em.

But today's question is a good one, and
it is: "How important is a diagnosis in

therapy? I've been in therapy for four
years and I never got a clear diagnosis."

And I hear this a lot, and I think it's
important to talk about all of the

different components of a diagnosis.
Firstly, I wanna talk about the client's

perspective, okay? For whoever asked this
question, I think that a diagnosis is

only important if it matters to you. If
you have all these symptoms, and you

wonder what the hell is going on, and you
feel terrible, you don't know how to

describe it to people, having a word, or
having a term or a diagnosis to describe

it can be really helpful, and it can be
validating. For many of my clients,

they'll say, "It's just so nice to be able
to say, 'Oh, it's just my anxiety, or I

have panic disorder, and so that's what's
going on,'" and to have a term that you

can place on it can be like, "That's what
it is! I'm not just going crazy or feeling

like I'm drowning periodically. That's
what's happening!" And so in that respect,

I think that diagnosis can be - or
diagnoses as a whole - can be really

helpful, and really beneficial, because it
can help us feel more understood, and

help us better help ourselves. Then we
might know what workbooks to look up, what

specialists we might wanna see if we're
not in therapy, or if we're in therapy,

maybe we need to move on to a specialist.
All sorts of things.

It could open up a whole world where we
can help ourselves better.

Now, the second component is the
therapist's perspective. And diagnoses are

important to me for various reasons, the
first being, if I work with a treatment

plan, which I think all therapist should
do, and a treatment plan is really what I

put together with you. It's a living,
breathing, working document that we

utilise in order to make sure that we're
still working on our goals together, and

we're still moving and tracking towards
those goals. And so when I first meet with

my clients, I often ask them, "What
symptoms are you experiencing, like, what

brought you in today? What goals do you
have? Short term? Long term?" And then

I'll even sometimes break them down into
personal goals, work or school goals,

things like that. And so that kinda helps
us track what we're doing together. It's a

treatment plan. It's a plan for your
treatment, and a diagnosis can really help

with that, because once I kind of know
what we're working on - let's say it's

self-injury and we wanna work on those
impulses - it can help cater the tools and

techniques I'm gonna offer in order to
help you achieve the goal. Another reason

that diagnoses are important is
insurance companies. And I have to be

honest: that's probably one of the number
one reasons why I ever write down a

diagnostic code, and go through the
symptomology step by step, is because

insurance companies require it. They need
to know what's going on in order to

cover your treatment and your therapy
sessions. A way to kind of hopefully make

this make sense is like, you couldn't just
go to your regular GP doctor and have

them just bill your insurance for five
hundred dollars and not explain any of it,

right? They usually have, like, a
breakdown with these codes about what they

were treating. Like a code saying you had
to be tested for the flu, right? And so

the same goes for therapy. And you can see
why it's necessary, although it's very

annoying. And so there are certain
diagnoses that get extreme, great coverage

you can go to inpatient, you can get all
this stuff, and there are others that

they're like, "Oh, you can have five
sessions, and we're done." And so those

codes are very important. And those
codes come out of DSM diagnoses.

And that's really why we have to have
them, and that's why I have those

conversations with my clients about it.
I always talk to my clients about it

before I put something on a super bill,
or an insurance form. Because insurances

keep that information, and in the States,
we've been dealing with 'pre-existing

conditions', and what that means for
coverage. And a pre-existing condition

just means that you had something before
you got that coverage. And so then they

may say, "Oh, we can't cover you." And so
different diagnoses can lead to that.

So it's really important as a client, as a
patient, to understand what's going on

your record and to understand what they
think that you're struggling with, because

you are the only person who knows your
experience through and through. And so

it's important to have a conversation
about it. And if you feel like you've been

given the wrong diagnosis, or you don't
know if you have a diagnosis, you can ask,

and you can talk about it, because at the
end of the day, it's yours. It's what

you're working on. It's what you came to
therapy for, and hopefully you feel that

it fits your experience. I think the
message that I want you all to hear is

that you have a right to know what it is.
You have a right to ask about it. And

more importantly, you have a right to ask
for other opinions. I always, if a client

doesn't agree with a diagnosis, which I
don't - I actually don't think I've had

happen - knock on wood - but if it hasn't

happened to me - but if it did, I am
more than willing to send my clients out

for different assessments, to go to
different testing centres if they don't

think that the diagnosis that I gave them
fits. And so know that you have a right to

talk about it, you have a right to tell
them why or why not you think it fits, and

you have a right to get other
assessments, because we need to make sure

that we're getting the treatment that we need
and deserve, right? And if we

aren't diagnosed properly - let's say they're
treating bipolar disorder when we

really struggle with borderline personality
disorder - I have a video to tell you

the difference - then we might not be
getting what we really need. And if we're

on medication, that can get even more
confusing. Just know that you have a

right to ask them about it, figure out
what it is, and to have a conversation.

Because diagnoses can follow us, they can
get us treatment, they can make sure we

get the help that we need, and they can
make sure that we're actually getting the

treatment for what we're struggling with.
So talk about it, know that it's

completely okay to question it, to agree
or disagree. And a therapist isn't going

to be upset with you asking what it is and
why. It's part of the treatment process,

and I honestly believe that they should
all be open to having it with you.

So speak up, advocate for yourself, and
make sure you're getting the treatment

that you need and deserve.

I hope you found that helpful. I know
there are a lot of questions regarding

diagnoses, and I hope that just kinda
clears up what rights you have, and how we

diagnose people.

And as a surprise, and a little bonus, I
put journal topics in the description.

I know a lot of you have been missing
them. If you are an OG viewer, you

remember on my FAQ videos, at the end, I
always offered up a journal topic, and I

know a lot of you have been wanting them,
so I put some in the description.

So check those out. And as always, thank
you so much to my Patreon patrons. WIthout

your support, this channel wouldn't be
possible. So this video is brought to you

by them. Thank you. Thank you so much.
And if you're curious what Patreon is,

you can click the link in the description
and check it out. It's just another way

to support channels like Kati Morton,
and make sure that we can continue to

create content. Now click over here to
subscribe. I put out videos twice a week,

and I also do some livestreams, and you
don't wanna miss 'em, so make sure your

notifications are turned on, and I will
see you next time. Bye!