Psychiatric Diagnosis: Myths, Traps, and What It Is Not

Psychiatric diagnosis is surrounded by myths on both sides: some fear it as a stigma, others turn it into the ultimate objective of a clinical committee. Dr. Andris Saulitis, drawing on decades of practice, identifies several systemic misconceptions that genuinely prevent people from getting the help they need.

Myth 1. The diagnosis is the main thing

The most common distortion in clinical practice is when doctors argue over the code in the chart rather than how to help the patient. Committees of five or six specialists — professors, senior lecturers, residents — spend their time debating "F32.2 or F33?" instead of asking "what are we treating, and how?" A diagnosis is a working tool for the clinician and for colleagues, a shared language. It has no value in itself.

Myth 2. A questionnaire can replace a psychiatrist

In a number of countries, diagnosis has effectively been handed over to standardised screening tools. A patient fills in a questionnaire while waiting, and the system automatically slots them into a diagnostic category — organic mood disorder, affective disorder, anxiety disorder. This produces a wave of inaccurate diagnoses: the real clinical picture remains invisible, and the person receives a label instead of understanding.

Myth 3. A diagnosis automatically determines treatment

Once a diagnosis is recorded, the next trap springs: a rigid guideline prescribing a fixed treatment pathway. The guideline stops being a reference and becomes a binding obligation — the doctor treats the diagnosis, not the person. This is precisely why people with panic disorders spend years making the rounds of cardiologists, GPs, and other specialists: no one looks at the whole picture.

What a diagnosis actually means

A diagnosis exists for one purpose: so that the doctor understands what they are working with, and so that colleagues can understand it too. Nothing more. The real goal is not the correct code in the chart — it is solving the problem of a specific person. When a clinician keeps that in focus, the diagnosis takes its proper, supporting role.