What does being “medically recognised” mean?
More people are saying their disorders are “medically recognised” but what does it mean? This is a (relatively) brief breakdown of medical recognition and other forms of diagnosis.
Official Diagnosis
A diagnosis is defined as ‘the process of identifying a disease, condition, or injury from its signs and symptoms’.
Anyone can have a diagnosis but an official diagnosis is made by a qualified professional.
These are written down and logged in the system for future reference.
Medical Recognition
Medical recognition is a broad term. Sometimes it’s used as a synonym of an official diagnosis.
For the purposes of this post, I am using it to refer to a diagnosis made by a medical professional that is not officially stated and logged into the system.
Medical recognition can be used instead of an official diagnosis for a number of reasons:
1. The professional is not qualified to diagnose the disorder.
In the UK, only psychiatrists are qualified to officially diagnose patients with anything.
In both the US and the UK, only psychiatrists can prescribe medication.
2. The diagnosis is too expensive.
In the US, healthcare has to be payed for individually or by an insurance company. To get evaluated and diagnosed costs money that some people don’t have.
In the UK, the waiting lists for diagnoses are long and often difficult to get onto. People can be seen but, due to only higher level medical professionals being able to diagnose, they have to go through various referrals that may be rejected.
Because of this, some people choose to get diagnosed through a private healthcare system. Not everyone can afford those, however.
3. The diagnosis would not be helpful.
In certain cases, a professional might decide not to officially diagnose a disorder because they feel that it would cause the patient harm.
An example of why they would feel this is stigma.
Stigmatised diagnoses (such as dissociative disorders, personality disorders etc) can cause discrimination in personal and professional life and in future medical care.
Sometimes a professional will make this decision without involving the patient. This is typically unhelpful.
When a professional makes this decision alongside the patient, they may offer treatments for the disorder despite the lack of diagnosis.
For example, they may offer therapies helpful for the disorder or medications that are officially prescribed for a different diagnosed disorder.
Self Diagnosis vs Medical Recognition
Self diagnosis is a diagnosis made by the patient that might be supported by their friends/family, whereas medical recognition is done by a medical professional in a professional setting.
Researched self diagnosis can be very helpful for an individual for understanding themself and seeking out help and/or an official diagnosis.
I hope this was helpful for someone.
