When you are sick, especially when you have a mental health conditions, one of the most important things to remembers is: ALWAYS get a second opinion.

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

As a patient it’s important to always remain aware. In the end, it is your body. You’ve been living with so often you have the best understand of your symptoms. And, you have to live with it and take care of it the way you see fit. That means, deciding what you feel is the best treatment option and weighing that with what professionals suggest.

Don’t believe what your 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.