Benefits of a formal diagnosis?

Affirmation of self. I am constantly going back and revising my own knowledge of who I am around all of the disruption and trauma that happens in life. This can be really helpful as a starting point to looking at yourself through the clearest lens.

Formal diagnosis is not necessary though, it just depends on the level you are willing to go towards self understanding. I’d say the difference between me now and me before my diagnosis this summer is that now a lot of things which I see as facts, before that point they were rather ambiguous. You cannot begin to make total sense from halfway facts/suppositions (like I always knew or had an inkling because that’s how I felt). Although those feelings are important professional diagnosis verifies any uncertainty. That said it is also in some ways an irreversible position even if you choose to tell nobody it stays with you and upends everything.

Affirmation of self. I am constantly going back and revising my own knowledge of who I am around all of the disruption and trauma that happens in life. This can be really helpful as a starting point to looking at yourself through the clearest lens.

Formal diagnosis is not necessary though, it just depends on the level you are willing to go towards self understanding. I’d say the difference between me now and me before my diagnosis this summer is that now a lot of things which I see as facts, before that point they were rather ambiguous. You cannot begin to make total sense from halfway facts/suppositions (like I always knew or had an inkling because that’s how I felt). Although those feelings are important professional diagnosis verifies any uncertainty. That said it is also in some ways an irreversible position even if you choose to tell nobody it stays with you and upends everything.