Note: I AM NOT ASKING ANYBODY HERE FOR A DIAGNOSIS!!! I've read the rules and I realize that I need to seek a professional opinion instead of strangers on the internet, which is why I'm making this post. 

Hello all, I don't post on Reddit often, but I'm a long time lurker. So long story short, I'm 24 and I strongly believe that I have moderate to severe BPD. Everything started when I was a young teenager. I was depressed most of the time, but I had severe, unpredicatable mood swings and suicidal thoughts. My parents took me to a psychiatrist who just had me fill out a survey, told me that I had bipolar, and put me on medication that didn't work. It helped with the depression somewhat, but the mood swings and feelings of emptiness were still there. I started college and had a hard time making friends. By the end of my freshman year, I saw a therapist because my depression got so bad that I could barely function in school and I just couldn't stand the thoughts in my head anymore. I knew that if I didn't seek help, I would not survive in college. 

I was referred to a wonderful therapist who I've been seeing for 6 years now. It felt good having someone to talk to, but something still felt missing. My therapist stated that she thought my bipolar was a misdiagnosis because my mood swings were very short lived, even for rapid cycling bipolar so I was back to questioning what was going on in my brain. I couldn't decide on a major, I constantly questioned who I was, and my relationship at the time was falling apart, in almost the same exact pattern as previous relationships. I decided to give psychology a try since I wanted to help people with depression. I took an abnormal psych class as part of the major requirement and we got to the chapter about personality disorders. I had heard about BPD before, but I didn't know what it was or what the symptoms were. When we got to the lecture on BPD and talked about the symptoms, something clicked inside my head and I instantly thought "omg this is ME. All of it. Every single one." I went home and asked my boyfriend at the time if "these symptoms sound like me". He said "yes". Then I found a BPD symptom quiz on PsychologyToday, took it honestly, and the results came back "Your results match results of those with BPD. Seek the help of a professional to learn more." I took another quiz on a different website, the results were the same. I took another one. Same results. I wanted to cry because I was just so relieved to have an answer as to why I felt the way that I did. My therapist and I started using a DBT workbook after that semester and it made such a difference in my life. My therapist seems to think a BPD diagnosis is fitting based off of what I've disclosed to her over the years, and she also thinks that I have comorbid PTSD because I've had trauma happen somewhat recently, but she's not able to diagnose, unfortunately. 

I realize that self-diagnosing can be harmful and offensive. I feel like if I go around telling people (friends, family members, partners, ect) that I have BPD, but have not been properly diagnosed then I would be doing more harm than good. I just graduated with a social work degree, so I genuinely want to help others and I hope that I can open up my own DBT practice some day. I just feel bad because I don't have a professional diagnosis and I have no idea how to go about getting one. I'm scheduled to see the doctor soon, but I feel like if I walk into a psychiatrist's office and say "I think I have BPD", then they'll just laugh at me and say something like "well then you definitely don't have it because most people with BPD don't know that they have it and think that there's nothing wrong with them". I'm just scared of having my feelings being invalidated by someone who is supposed to help me, especially since BPD is so stigmatized. Like I said before, I'm 24 now and my personality, thoughts, coping skills, and patterns have literally not changed much since I was 12. I've been on so many medications, and gone to therapist after therapist for years and only after I met with one who was qualified to do DBT, did I see an improvement. Every day is still a battle, but learning my triggers and trying to cope with them gives me hope that the future will be better. So I guess what I'm asking here is, would getting a diagnosis from a psychiatrist even be worth it? How would I go about doing that? Would I sound silly if I walked in and expressed my concerns about having BPD and possible PTSD? And how would having a diagnosis down on paper affect my future and career prospects? Please help me with this. I'm so anxious and this has been consuming my thoughts for days now. I figured that turning to reddit for advice would be best because there are so many people here who understand the process of being diagnosed. Once again, I'm not asking for ya'll to actually diagnose me, I just want to know how I should approach expressing my concerns to a psychiatrist or if I should even bother seeing one at all. Thanks! 


TL/DR: 24 and strongly exhibiting borderline symptoms. Therapist agrees, but can't diagnose. Would seeing a psychiatrist be worth it and would I sound silly if I voiced my concerns to them? 