What does it mean, exactly? The way I understand it is that the mental health professional is trying to eliminate the possibility of a diagnosis.

However, some things have clouded my understanding of this.

Firstly, years ago when I was still a minor, one psychiatrist said they had “ruled out” bipolar 1. My next psychiatrist diagnosed me with bipolar 1…and now, that bipolar 1 diagnosis has been well-established and is no longer debated.

Now, today, I asked my current psychiatrist where my diagnoses lie at the present because I’ve never actually known. She was thorough. 

Diagnoses were bulleted, and listed the following:

Suicidal Ideation
Social anxiety disorder, depressed, moderate
Bipolar 1 disorder
Borderline personality traits, ***R/O***
Trauma and stressor-related disorder

Then, she stated, “These are current diagnoses that are still a work in progress. ***I suspect that the diagnosis of borderline
personality disorder is there and a big driver for
some of the disabling symptoms.***”

So, she said a little more but to stay on-topic I just want to focus on two things:

She indicated that she thinks it probable I have BPD. But as one of the bullets, BPD has an R/O right beside it, which if I’m not mistaken is an abbreviated form of “rule out”.

So I guess I’m just confused. This same thing happened with my bipolar 1 diagnosis: it was “ruled out” but subsequently diagnosed. And that seems to be what is happening here.

I guess maybe the term *rule out* is just a strange one. Or perhaps these are just atypical experiences