Wednesday, September 9

What's wrong with me.

The above is a statement, not a question. I know exactly what is wrong with me because I received the notes from my previous psychiatric appointment in the post today. And here it is:

Diagnosis:
Recurrent depressive disorder - currently in remission (ICD10 F33.4)

The notes are pretty bleak.

Miss O'Donnell has a long history of recurrent low mood.
Several times a year she has periods of a few weeks or so where she has moderate depressive symptoms. At this point her sleep, mood, appetite, energy, motivation, concentration and interest in socialising are all affected. She also has clear anhedonia (an inability to experience pleasure from normally pleasurable life events) at these points.
Ms O'Donnell was a pleasant young Caucasian woman.
Her content was logical and coherent.
She appeared to be euthymic with a bright reative affect.
She was cognitively grossly intact.

And the crunch: "Ms O'Donnell has a long history of periodic recurrent multiple depressive episodes. She has occasional low-grade 'highs' but would by no means qualify for a Bipolar Affective Disorder diagnosis."

So there I have it. In black and white.

As a footnote, I googled ICD10 F33.4 and this is what I found.

F33.4 Recurrent depressive disorder, currently in remission
A. The general criteria for recurrent depressive disorder (F33) have been met in the past.
B. The current state does not meet the criteria for a depressive episode
(F32.-) of any severity, or for any other disorder in F3 (the patient may receive treatment to reduce the risk
of further episodes).

Erk!

3 comments:

iamshanemorris said...

I'm not sure if I feel worse for you, or your therapist. I get why you go, but you might just save some money getting on Skype and talking to me.

Any moron can tell you what that tard (this means "retard") told you. Sometimes, people get sad. It happens. Why? Because some things in life make us sad. You break up with you partner? Sad. Lose a job? Sad. Your favorite TV show gets cancelled? Sad.

Quit seeing your therapist. Save the money. Send half the amount you pay him/her to me. Take those savings and buy some cool shit that makes you happy. (Sex toys?)

Glad I could help.

Dino Girl said...

He's not a therapist, he's a doctor of psychology. And the very nature of my condition is that it my depressive episodes are almost completely unrelated to changes in my situation, they are purely chemical. So, sorry, love, no amount of dildos will solve that.

iamshanemorris said...

Wait a second... so this is a problem that dildoes WON'T solve?

I believe this is a historical moment.

Do Google searches and that...

Google