I feel a weight lifted off my shoulders. I've been seeing my therapist for 3 years now. Throughout this time he had not ever really diagnosed me with anything, although we had a mutual understanding that stuff was real bad. He always alnowledged my symptoms but never threw names at them. Just focused on learning to observe them and try to be better. Finally today I had the courage to ask, prefacing that I know it's bad to self diagnose. He didn't dodge it and agreed completely. He explained that his approach after years of work (he's retirement age) that he learned putting labels on things doesn't always help. And while I agreed I'm also slightly annoyed that he couldn't have just told me. He admitted it was a "pretty heavy" diagnosis to give someone and while I agree, I do ultimately feel lighter and happy that we've already essentially BEEN treating it, just without the label. 

What do y'all think? Is a diagnosis important to you? Why/why not? 

TL;DR: Therapist knew I had BPD but didn't tell me until I asked.