Your letter looks like mine with all the Axis things. What do those mean? I have a couple of things under each of them with the "Rule Out" beside some of them, and I don't understand if it means it was ruled out or if they're still poking my brain to rule them out.
Also, it says I need cognitive behavioral therapy. Has anyone done any of this and was it a big waste of time, or was it useful?
Crazy stuff, huh? Whenever you see a psych in the US, they'll give a diagnosis based on the 5 Axes.
Here's a website that might explain it for you:
http://www.mental-health-matters.com/articles/article.php?artID=1Basically (I'll summarize from the link)
Axis 1 = Clinical Disorders including mood disorders
Axis 2 = Personality/Mental Retardation Disorder (why lump these into one category, I don't know) This includes sociopath, narcissism etc.
Axis 3 = General medical condition. Got any health issues like diabetes?
Axis 4 = Psychosocial and environmental problems
Axis 5 = Global Assessment of Functioning aka GAF: "This is a number from 1-100 that reflects the caregiver's judgment of the overt level of functioning" ie how're you doing with you activities of daily living?
Asperger's would be an Axis 1 diagnosis, I believe, although I haven't checked my own diagnosis lately so can't remember offhand.
Cognitive Behavrioral Therapy aka CBT is a kind of talk therapy, where a psychologist helps you reprogram your thoughts into more positive ones. I've been recommended for it but the thought of sitting with a psychologist for an hour a week talking about - well anything really - is not something I'd like to spend my time doing. Not being into forming relationships and all.
Oh yeah - R/O = rule out =
that's the MD's way of saying "It could be 'x' but I don't know for sure".