"A clinician rapidly misdiagnosed me as Borderline and was disrespectful"

My story is a serious concern regarding a single consultation with a psychiatrist and my dissatisfaction with the response received from the practice after I made a formal complaint to the practice manager.

My key concern is that the doctor made a hasty diagnosis which I believe is wrong, ie. a misdiagnosis. I believe they didn’t ask me enough careful questions, so because of that they didn’t have enough relevant information to determine what personality disorder I have. They diagnosed me with Borderline Personality Disorder in less than 35 minutes.

I felt very dismissed by this doctor. It seemed that they clearly weren't interested in my reasons for why I believe I have Schizoid Personality Disorder, nor in the journal entries I had brought to share and that I think supported that diagnosis.

I found them to be unprofessional in several ways. I recall they accused me of being “combative” when I was just asking questions about their decision to diagnose me as Borderline Personality Disorder. They refused to tell me again what their reasons were for the diagnosis, even when I explained that I have a poor memory. And they started the session seated in what I felt was a disrespectful way, with their legs wide apart right in front of me.

To distinguish properly between Borderline and other personality disorders, I believe they really ought to have asked for more detail about things such as relationships including family, friends and partners, suicidality, self harm, emotion regulation and eating disorder behaviours.

The whole appointment with that doctor was very disappointing, and also very triggering. I’ve had previous bad experiences with the impact of stigma from a Borderline misdiagnosis. It’s very concerning to me that this doctor then wrote their conclusion to my GP which I felt then is likely to prejudice my GP against me, with Borderline stigma. It’s one reason that I stopped seeing that GP, to avoid the risk of encountering bad stigmatised reactions.

The experience of attending the appointment continued to weigh on me over time. The intricacies of a careful personality disorder diagnosis take time. The psychiatric guidelines advise a careful and detailed assessment. In my opinion, this doctor was not at all careful and detailed in their assessment of me and no were they respectful either. 

I felt further disappointed when Logic Lounge responded to my email complaint, as I believe they only defended the doctor's actions by passing on their opinion that the doctor thought they had done a good job. And they only said they acknowledge my feelings and my views, saying they were sorry for how I "felt". But, in my opinion, that doesn't mean anything really. They didn't agree that any of my points had any validity. Essentially, they were entirely dismissive of my concerns, merely saying they had 'noted' my feedback which sounds like they'll actually do nothing about it.