bipolar disorder – Living in Stigma

Bipolar Disorder ~ Were you perhaps Misdiagnosed?

Bipolar Disorder Often Misdiagnosed as Major Depression

Researchers Pinpoint 5 Factors That Can Help Improve Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder

I’ve been hunting for an article just like this, perhaps info for my dilemma ‘Major Depression diagnosed as Bipolar Disorder’.

I was diagnosed with BP-II in 1997, at which time psychiatrists prescribed mood stabilizers, followed by antidepressants and a myriad of medications throughout the years.

A number of these medications were still prescribed, but I was puzzled by this diagnosis, considering primarily fighting off major depression for years. Episodes of “mood swings”, “rapid cycling” or “mania”, just weren’t there. The psychiatrist I have now confirmed in 2012 I do not have BP, however, I do have major depression and anxiety.

About one in three people diagnosed with major depression may actually have bipolar disorder, researchers report.

Five characteristics, including extreme mood swings and psychiatric symptoms at a young age, may help pinpoint which patients actually have bipolar disorder, they say.

Bipolar disorder covers a spectrum of disorders in which patients may be sad and down one day and feeling on top of the world, hyperactive, creative, and grandiose the next.

Continue reading Bipolar Disorder ~ Were you perhaps Misdiagnosed?

STIGMA – Mental & Invisible Illnesses

What is Stigma?

When an individual appears to differ from us, we may view him or her in a negative, stereotyped way. People who have personalities or characteristics that society’s values negatively are stigmatized.

Stigma is a reality for people with mental or invisible illnesses and how society judges them is one of their most significant barriers to coping and living their life. We feel uncomfortable about mental illness, perhaps due to not fully understanding this disorder, and with an invisible illness, we sometimes assume they are useless, unable to work or function at all. (Statistics show stigma is less present with invisible illnesses). Continue reading STIGMA – Mental & Invisible Illnesses

Bipolar Disorder – Just The Facts

In my opinion, for years now, whenever bipolar disorder is revealed on social media it relates to some heinous, horrid crime. Mass shootings or some horrific crime such as a vicious assault, or violent murders. Less often is anything else said about bipolar, such as research or how the average person struggling with this disorder lives.

No surprise there is a stigma with mental illness, let alone bipolar disorder or depression. I was diagnosed with BP in the late 1990’s due to a few hypomanic episodes, however, my history shows I’m usually in the “basement”, staggering through the muck, fighting depression. I wonder how thorough that test was for the doctor to diagnose me as Bipolar?For me, it’s a label, but I hate to even divulge I have BP. Shame really….imagine being ashamed of an illness?