Prior Mental Health History Police Employment

[MORA Ranger]

I'm not looking to join in any kind of debate here. But I wanted to add my very limited knowledge of mental diagnosis. Especially with kids, I think often doctors are too quick to proclaim something and stick on the easiest title. My little sister, for instance, was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, ADHD, high functioning autism, post traumatic stress, and all kinds of other things I can't remember. No one could figure out what to call her. Your diagnosis could easily have been totally wrong.

That's just my opinion. It seemed like every doc my sister went to said she had something different.

[Control372]

Well the tough thing about mental illness is that there is no way to physically test for it. The disease isn't something you can take blood and test for. Most have a very wide spectrum of functioning. And from the things that you listed, all have common symptoms. It's easy to misdiagnose a mental illness, and I'm having trouble right now with my son, he's 2 and they are already saying he's autistic. Really, I personally think it's too young to diagnose anybody with that, but I'll take whatever help I can. I will be getting him tested throughout the years if I see no progress, but for now I'm not putting a label on him.

As for more serious mental illness such as depression, or bi-polar that need medications, she might want to see a specialist the specifically works with bi-polar disorder, or depression, instead of a doctor that has a degree in the wide spectrum of mental illness. Although many have similar traits, some need medication to keep under control so she should definatly see someone and make a decision if it's serious enough. Hope this helps, like I said it can be very serious if she doesn't find the right kind of help soon.

[noelchabanel]

I'm not looking to join in any kind of debate here. But I wanted to add my very limited knowledge of mental diagnosis. Especially with kids, I think often doctors are too quick to proclaim something and stick on the easiest title. My little sister, for instance, was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, ADHD, high functioning autism, post traumatic stress, and all kinds of other things I can't remember. No one could figure out what to call her. Your diagnosis could easily have been totally wrong.

That's just my opinion. It seemed like every doc my sister went to said she had something different.

Agreed. IMHO Part of the problem is that a childhood diagnosis comes with two things: extra help for the kid who may be struggling for any number of medical or non-medical reasons, and money for the school to pay for it. Both of those things are nice, and more than a few kids with problems probably become successful in school because their parents will fight hard for their kid to get help by shopping around to psychologists until they get someone who will force the school to provide it. It's a pretty lame ar$$e way of getting things done if you ask me, and it probably negatively affects a lot of people later in life who have to disclose that they had this diagnosis for one reason or another. We ought to just help the kid out and pay for it whether there's something wrong with him or not. Just my 2 c.

[john351]

MORA Ranger,

So what should I do? If this is a misdiagnosis, and it was actually ADHD or something like that, how do I explain it to the department? Do I just say that, "I was diagnosed with Bipolar, but I don't think it is accurate."?

See I'm confident that I will pass the written psych eval. But would they just listen to my past history during the oral and say, "Oh no, you're not even worth taking the written, you got no chance, there's no point in letting you take the written!"

That's what I'm worried about now.