Tuesday, March 25, 2008
RuminationsSteven M Kleiner, MD I have a distinct memory from my college days. I lived in a dorm room and periodically I would open up my refrigerator door in search of something to eat. Being a male college student, my eyes often met empty shelves - save some condiments such as salad dres...
I am looking for a reality check, I think. I have been diagnosed with lots of mild problems over the years, including ADHD (when I was 12 or so), depression and anxiety. While the ADHD is a perpetual bane, I am dealing with it as I always have. I have been on medication for depression and, actually, feel pretty good. Professional opinions of the type of anxiety I am experiencing, however, differ from practitioner to practitioner, and I would like to get a firm diagnosis, even if it has the word "generalized" in it. I have rituals and strange rules (never go down an aisle in the grocery store if someone is in it, only leave the apartment once a day), which I am learning to recognize. But my psychiatrist doesn't think that I am OCD like my psychotherapist does. Can a person have a cluster of anxiety-related symptoms without really arriving at a diagnosis--straddling diagnoses, as it were?
RJ