background: 22F, seen three psychiatrists since I was 13, all of them treated me for depression, it never really worked. My dad is a psychiatrist, and as a teenager I'd overhear him refer to me as a borderline when talking to my mom. I looked it up and I have no doubt in my mind that I am a borderline.


I tend to make good first impressions, and am very good (some might say manipulative) at making myself seem like a victim. I also mislead doctors about many things. Growing up I always heard my dad talk about how mental health professionals (including himself) don't like to treat certain patients, including borderlines, people with eating disorders, and people who self harm. In classic borderline fashion, I always get people to try to like me, and subconsciously I think I tried to paint myself as a person who is depressed. I didn't tell them I have an eating disorder, or that I used to self harm, because I wanted my doctors to like me and hearing my dad talk about how horrible it is to treat certain patients made me want to be a "good" patient that my doctors enjoy seeing. I could see how a doctor who only talked to me for an hour might not realize I'm a borderline.

So my question is, should I just tell my next doctor all of this? I'm worried if I don't, I'll slip back into wanting to be a "perfect patient". On the other hand, it seems rude to tell a doctor that I've diagnosed myself. I don't want to sound like an idiot hypochondriac or a Wed MD doctor, and I don't want to insult the doctor by acting like I can do their job better than they can, so what should I do?