Getting a diagnosis?

[ilikepandas]

Hello everyone!

This might seem like a silly question,but how do I go about getting a diagnosis?(or not as the case may be :3)

I've been having what I think are panic attacks (nope, definitely panic attacks), and anxiety for about 2 years, but the only thing I've had from my doctor is a year + of citalopram and recently a letter to my uni asking that in the case I have a panic attack, can I leave the exam room for five minutes!

I'm not sure however how I go about getting a formal diagnosis, or not!
I only ask as I'd like to have something to show to my uni that I do suffer from anxiety, as attending lectures has become more and more hellish, and to have special dispensation you have to have a DSA (think that's what it's called), for which you need a diagnosis..

Sorry if this has sounded a bit rambled!

Thanks so much for reading.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Your GP is tasked with making a diagnosis. If it's a complicated disorder though, a GP is going to struggle and this is where the wrong anxiety disorder can be diagnosed or a lazy diagnosis of something like GAD.

Your GP is the best place to start. They can refer on to specialists but they prefer to only do this when they need help with your treatment.

[shiznit76]

I ended up paying for a private consultation with a psychiatrist to get a diagnosis

[Holds1325]

Sometimes they do tests to diagnose, like written exams and what not, questionaires to diagnose. Thats how I got diagnosed anyway.

But some of the tests are not fully comprehensive though as I clearly had OCD but the test only looked for 1 type of OCD with classic physical compulsions and not Pure O which I was eventually diagnosed with through a pyschiatrist who specialized in OCD