I frequently question whether my issues are due to my tbi or if it's situational things, I've had several diagnoses for probably everything known to the tbi community but i always wonder, how could anyone ever possibly know? I've had friends say I'm bipolar but am i? Or do i just have a low tolerance for bs and occasionally take things out of context like the average person. I feel the constant need to search for a category i fit into and by doing so i also feel I'm over educating myself and becoming a hypochondriac but i don't trust a doctor to diagnose me with anything after a short office visit. I feel I'm better diagnosing myself since well I'm me 24/7 but then i also wonder what i don't see and the things i may think are worse than reality.
Where's the balance? I feel i fit the symptoms of many many things for the most part but it's not like doctors analyze "healthy" people to compare to either. I wonder how much of what i go thru normal" people do as well and maybe my symptoms are just more closely analyzed because of my tbi

What were you like pre injury? Having read about your VERY SEVERE tbi and neck damage, if you were a balanced person before, I'd say your emotional problems are purely a manifestation of your injuries.

I was a very calm, happy, rational person before my devastating MVA, so no doctor is going to sell me on that anxiety BS. Yes, I have anxiety/depression - but they are SYMPTOMS of my TBI, not the cause of it.

Still, at this point, aside from maybe some personal satisfaction, why we are the way we are probably doesn't matter. No matter the cause of our emotional issues, the important thing is to do everything we can to address them. While their origins might be debatable, their reality is not, and to have the best lives we can, we have to deal with that.