What are the advantages of being correctly diagnosed?
There are several advantages to knowing the name of the illness that you have. One advantage is that you will be able to make informed decisions, with your psychiatrist, about what treatments are likely to help you. A great deal of research has been done to collect evidence on how well these various treatments work and what the side effects are. This can improve your odds of recovery and reduce the amount of time spent feeling bad. Another advantage is that the fear of the unknown will disappear and you will discover that you are not alone and that literally millions of other people have experienced the same thing you are experiencing. For example, according to the NIH (National Institutes of Health) one in every nine Americans has experienced Major Depression at least once in their lifetime and one in twenty have experienced Major Depression in the last year. Also, if you have a diagnosis, your insurance company may reimburse you for your treatment, making it financially possible for
