Here is one of the most valuable pieces of information when it comes to mental health diagnosis for your loved one: Make sure they get a second opinion.

Or a third. Or forth. Really. Have them get as many as they can. The more they get, the more expert evidence they can collect as to what is the real issue.  

As a patient or someone who is helping someone with depression it’s important to always remain aware.

Don’t believe what their family doctor says because they have the “almighty powers” that come with the allowance to put the letters M.D. after their name. While they are more knowledgeable than you on the topic of medicine, they are still human.

And humans make mistakes. Even doctors. They have bad days and can miss important aspects of your diagnosis.

They also have different life experiences, which may make give them different ideas about your diagnosis. A doctor who just treated a patient with the rare condition, may consider that as possible condition for you. While a doctor who learned about it once in med school, won’t even think about it.

Why you should always get a second opinion

The problem with mental health diagnosis and perception:

If you break your leg your doctor will take an x ray, show you the evidence, and put your leg in a cast. That’s not like mental health diagnosis. The evidence medical professionals have to go on is a set of behaviors that can’t be represented physically. Their evaluations are based on symptoms that you tell them you have, and personal accounts. Sometimes the accounts involve your family members and friends but those stories have different people with different experience different life and different perceptions.

Some doctors will be smart enough to take that into account. Some won’t. It can be a problem. So, what you need to do is be aware of the humans frame stories. This includes yourself.

Consider how you’ve been relating to or thinking about your loved one’s conditions? Is what you think of them getting in the way of how you see them and related to them?