Diagnosing a mental illness is often far more challenging than diagnosing a physical illness. The biggest reason for this is that in addition to looking at symptoms, most physical illnesses can be found anatomically (somewhere in the body) or through the discovery of germs such as bacteria, fungi and viruses. There is no such thing as a “germ” that causes a mental illness and it can nowhere be found diagnostically in the brain or body.

Therefore, clinicians rely on symptoms alone to diagnose. Additionally, many disorders have similar symptoms. Because of this, many people will go through various diagnoses before finding “the one” – if they ever do. It is not uncommon for a person to vary many different diagnoses from varying providers throughout the time of care. This can be frustrating for the person and those they love as they seek answers from professionals who appear to be contradicting each other.

One thing to keep in mind is that many times this is perfectly okay. Because there are no discrete germs that cause mental illnesses, the overlap of symptoms means that many of the same treatments treat a variety of similar disorders. In fact, many mental health professionals would prefer if there were no diagnoses at all because of this fact. These professionals often wish they could focus on the treatment of the symptoms rather than finding and using a “label”. They feel that the use of labels isn’t helpful and usually just promotes self esteem and stigma issues and that the focus should be on wellness rather than labeling the illness.

The only real reason for a diagnosis is so that mental health professionals can bill health insurance providers which require a numerical code associated with the diagnosis that they give. The second reason for a clear diagnosis is clear communication between individuals about what is going on with a person. Instead of having to give a list of symptoms, professionals often prefer to just use the diagnosis which implies these symptoms. It is for this reason, that having an accurate diagnosis is very helpful.

But because of the ambiguity of symptoms, there are many misdiagnoses of mental health illnesses. Here is a list of the more common ones and the subtle differences between them:

Autism spectrum disorders (aspergers, etc) and ADD (attention deficit (hyperactivity) disorder)
This is a common misdiagnosis in children and adolescents. This is because both these disorders cause difficulty with memory and focus. On the other hand, while individuals with ADHD estrange themselves from others socially, those with Autism spectrum disorder are estranged because they lack social skills.

Schizophrenia and Bipolar disorder
This misdiagnosis is a throwback to an older era in which most mental illnesses were lumped into schizophrenia and all treated with the same cocktail of drugs. The main difference here is that bipolar disorder is an illness of extreme moods (from deep depression to frenetic mania and back again) while schizophrenia also includes a psychosis component that makes the individual have trouble discerning reality through paranoia, hallucinations, or delusions.

Depression and Bipolar disorder
The reason for this misdiagnosis is that it often takes time to get a real handle of bipolar disorder. Because an individual carrying this diagnosis goes through extreme moods over time and will often come into treatment while depressed and the clinician will not see the other extreme (mania) until is cycles back. These cycles are unique to each individual and while some are rapid-cycling (minutes or hours), others are much slower (days or even months).

Borderline Personality Disorder, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and Dissociative Disorders
All of these disorders are terrifically complex which is why they are commonly misdiagnosed. The most pronounced difference between them is that PTSD requires a pinpointed traumatic event in which the individual felt they (or those around them) were imminently going to die or be destroyed while the other two do not always require anything as extreme. Borderline Personality Disorder is often symptomatic of very chaotic and difficult relationship problems while Dissociative Disorders show up as lapses in memory or losing time. If you are diagnosed with any of these disorders, be sure that you have a provider who is well-versed in understanding them in order to get the best treatment.

Depression in men and children
Depression symptoms in women is well known as they are the most common population to suffer from depression. Men and children on the other hand exhibit different symptoms. Men often feel intense anger and anxiety rather than a sluggish sadness while children may act out and become more hyper.

Obsessive Compulsive disorder in general
Because of the tremendous over-use of this word in our vernacular, everyone these days says that they have OCD. The truth is that, real OCD is a debilitating disorder that causes those who have it to spend hours each day performing rituals that they feel they have no control over. Just being a neat-freak does not qualify as OCD.

In the end, the diagnosis is less important than the treatment but having well-educated and qualified providers helps in finding the right form of both.