Is A Bipolar Disorder Diagnosis the Latest Mania?

The only thing the majority of people falsely diagnosed need to take is accountability for one's actions and emotions. If you are unwilling, you let yourself become unable.

Originally posted by DeadFlagBlues
The only thing the majority of people falsely diagnosed need to take is accountability for one's actions and emotions. If you are unwilling, you let yourself become unable.

If one is unwilling to be accountable then they likely don't have a disorder, only presumption of one.
If one is willing and unable then they may have a disorder.
People will believe that they have all sorts of things based on their own feelings, and if one believes then the symptoms still exist and require treatment in one form or another.

You seem to be confusing your opinion that folks are being improperly treated and diagnosed with the treatments available for those in need of them. More often than not, a wrongly diagnosed person will be recognized by their prescribing shrink and adjusted treatment follows.

There seems to be a bit of bias towards the medical field. When people want a solution to a problem that they are having, they go to the people that are able to help. If those same people were to be turned away, do you really think that it would be a good thing for the public at large? Most people in this situation request the meds , not always does the shrink agree or even prescribe anything.

BiPolar is real, no arguing that.
People have it and require treatment/meds.

As with all things, some will labor under a misconception.

I'm glad a semblance of sense has prevailed here.

Bipolar IS a real illness, but as with all types of mental illness there is stigma attached, which is not helped by the lack of understanding displayed by some.

As I made very clear in the OP, bipolar affects people, is real and for those who suffer from it is very serious.

The problem is the same as has/does exist with depression - doctors are too quick to pin a label on someone and give them a "happy pill" to get them out of the door.

"Next patient please" ker-ching

Mental healthcare is as much about identifying correctly and management of illness asm it is about treatment.

The right treatment is only possible with correct identification (diagnosis) and in this field, many doctors are behind the times in my experience.

Basing a diagnosis on key words or symptoms is only the first step - the patient should then be referred to a mental health specialist for further investigation and possible treatment plans.

It appears that this is not happening as much as it should be, and that's what this thread is about.

[edit on 21/8/2008 by budski]

reply to post by LockwithnoKey


Most psychiatric evaluations are worthless. One hundred question personality test, an hour consultation, and a check up weekly, monthly, annually? To see the true character of someone, you need to be around them for hours at a time in varying situations. You need to see how they address being stressed, angry, hurt (mentally/emotionally/physically), calm, tired, happy, etc... Western medicine is failing us and will continue to do so until we get our heads out of places they don't belong. Like, I said. With the "at risk" teens I worked with, 1 out of a hundred or more had a legitimate case of ADHD/ADD. Even then, I think with enough self-discipline he could have overcome it by himself, naturally.

reply to post by DeadFlagBlues




With kids and ADD I think sadly enough it is often a case of parents who are unable to control their children looking for an excuse for them to not have to parent or discipline their kids.


Just have a doctor diagnose little Billy as ADD and load him up with drugs. Suddenly the child is no longer out of control, quite the opposite he is sedated. It is an easy fix for a difficult problem, and the doctors who make money on it are all too happy to oblige.

Just my $0.02

Originally posted by DeadFlagBlues
reply to post by LockwithnoKey

 

Most psychiatric evaluations are worthless. One hundred question personality test, an hour consultation, and a check up weekly, monthly, annually? To see the true character of someone, you need to be around them for hours at a time in varying situations. You need to see how they address being stressed, angry, hurt (mentally/emotionally/physically), calm, tired, happy, etc... Western medicine is failing us and will continue to do so until we get our heads out of places they don't belong. Like, I said. With the "at risk" teens I worked with, 1 out of a hundred or more had a legitimate case of ADHD/ADD. Even then, I think with enough self-discipline he could have overcome it by himself, naturally.

I think the problem here is that you don't know enough good shrinks, people do get into the medical field to actually help, not just cash in. Not to mention that if the patient is actually there for help, not just for dope, that they are involved in their own treatment and record keeping of such feelings/incidents.
This combined with the know how of the doc is how proper treatments can be arranged.

The patient is the one responsible for their own treatment, and not always does that include meds. Their are a world of methods, as many as the people that need them.

BiPolar is very different than ADD, and much more serious to boot. I agree, that I don't take ADD very seriously either, but it's nowhere near comparable.

reply to post by BlackOps719


Exactly. That's what pisses me off so bad. A perpetual cycle of disregarding any responsibility or accountability handed down from the parents to the children. That is ultimately the physicians fault for dishing out medicine left and right. The only reason I know they do that, because as a 13 year old I was within an hour put on Zoloft, Provigle, and Adderall. They didn't even give me prescriptions for them at first, they literally handed my mother a bag of trials. Ended up sticking me on Zoloft and Adderall. That story is similar to almost every single student I've had with the exception of a few who had extensive psychiatric evaluations.

After being diagnosed with BPD, Manic Depression, and anxiety I was on drugs for about a year, quit cold turkey, became active, found some hobbies and never turned back. I was fine.

I had a student recently who was on meds since the age of 6. SIX!! When he left our program he was on NOTHING.

I have been diagnosed/labelled Bi-polar. I thought it was hillarious when I was TOLD I was depressed, I didn't even feel sad. The whole ridiculous scenario had me grinning like a mad man for days at the idea of someone blundering around throwing diagnosis's around willy nilly.
Never mind that someone might actually take them seriously.

The truth is I don't even have the attention span to be depressed. When I have a feeling I do not like, I address it as such, that is a feeling, A bodily sensation. I focus on the sensation for as long as I can, but then my mind wonders off and I suddenly realise I have forgoten I was upset in someway. The feeling just simply goes away and does not come back. I don't understand feelings but pumping iron has given me an ability to focus on bodily sensations.

Its no use going around with all the stupid stories in your head like "I am sad beacause" or I am "Depressed". I think alot of psychiatric illness is Iatrogenic. It simply does not pay to go around labelling people mentally ill at the drop of a hat under the guise of science.

Any way anyone labelled Bi-Polar might want to look up Spiritual or religious problem, it is a new NON PATHALOGICAL chapter in the DSM-IV. For the most part the DSM is a load of crap, but if you want to find a psychiatric justification for not taking drugs, thats your best chance. Good Luck

What no one has mentioned here as yet is the Powers of Cognitive Therapy. It can be a great help (along with appropriate medications when required) in reducing a lot of the symptoms that lend themselves to various mental illnesses. Bi Polar is definitely a mental illness and a very legitimate suffering for millions of people.

Not only does a person with Bi Polar suffer the effects from the illness (categorized as dramatic and life impeding mood swings) it also encompasses many other recognized illnesses. Be they in symptomatic form or actual.

Depression and/ or Dysthemia (long running depression) is a piggy back illness...it latches on to nearly ALL mental illnesses.
Can be in part corrected with medications if needed and benefits dramatically from cognitive therapies.

Phobias galore also lend themselves to most mental illness diagnosis and can also benefit dramatically from cognitive therapies.

I think this is an area in Psychology that needs to be utilized more in the treatments of most mental illnesses...pills can help but what cognitive therapies do for the patient is that it gives them CONTROL over many of the "feelings" that prevent them from feeling well.

Many of our problems in life can be treated with this kind of therapy. It's a look inward and enables a person to get to the root of the feelings that become exaggerated and irrational in an unwell mind.

From personal experience. I took control and responsibility for my own mental health. Paxil helps keep the edge off my Dysthemia and for my PAD and agoraphobia I practice the skills I learned to control my own moods and feelings. With amazing success!!!

We don't poo poo the person who NEEDS a leg brace to walk so why do we poo poo the person who needs a pill to help them feel a bit more steady?

Admittedly there are is a genuine amount of pharmaceutical slime out there. However with a good doctor, therapy and a sense of responsibility on the part of the patient it cannot be anything but a win win.

For those who are interested read up on cognitive therapies...it really can't be understated how powerful a tool it is to a person needing and wanting to take control and have input in their own wellness.

All the same I could not have achieved success without Paxil. It is a bit of a blow to my ego to admit that but I did some testing on my own without it and even the cognitive therapy couldn't give me the same level of function of now have.

In 2001 I had a breakdown. Severe. Locked myself in my house for three years unable to go out alone. Bogged down by a multitude of phobias and anxieties. Got a diagnosis...but it took me another year to swallow my pride and actually get help.

6 months of Cognitive therapy and a couple of tries on different meds before finding that Paxil was the best. When I realized that I could relearn many of the responses I had to the situations that caused me such emotional and physical pain and suffering...it was truly amazing.

Now almost 9 years later I am employed full time and work in a huge and very busy environment and I am at the mercy of the public everyday for 8 hours. I have the occasional twinge of anxiety now but I forgive myself for it and deal with it immediately using the skills I learned.

I am very proud of this. The therapies also allowed to me to get to know myself much better and as a result I am much kinder to myself than ever before...much kinder to others as well. I also developed a backbone and stand my ground. Confrontations don't terrify me anymore. Being available to the public doesn't either.

My home life improved dramatically too...I took a vacation for the first time in my life, fell in love and actually started feeling HAPPY??!!

Meds + therapy + taking responsibility for my own health= happy JG

Personally I still resent the Paxil and that I need it to assist...compared to how I feel off of it though it's a concession I am more than willing to make.

For those wondering PAD/ Agoraphobia is a mood disorder and affects the same area of the brain and the same chemicals (or lack there of) in the Bi Polar mind. So does depression and a wide assortment of phobias.

Originally posted by BlackOps719
Bi-polar disorder is a real, actual disease. But I dont believe it is being diagnosed with very much accuracy. There is a serious difference between having basic depression or even manic depression versus being bi-polar, which is a serious and often fatal disorder. True bi-polar people have such severe mood swings that they are accompanied by dimentia and loss of grip on reality. They swing from severe hyper activity and mania to within minutes complete dispair and thoughts of suicide.
[edit on 8/21/08 by BlackOps719]

Basically, I agree with what you have said, BlackOps719 - and thank you for a good contribution to this discussion. But I want to point out a couple of things about this paragraph.

First, "manic depression" is "bipolar disorder": as someone else stated, it's just the no-longer-accepted term for what we now know as bipolar disorder.

Second, "basic" depression, by which I assume you mean major depressive disorder, is anything but basic, and is a serious and often fatal disorder. I think that both bipolar and major depressive disorders are overdiagnosed and overmedicated -- but that does not mean that the diagnoses or medications are without value.

I have watched close friends struggle with bipolar disorder, and have myself struggled with major depressive disorder. I think the biggest misconception about depression (at least as I experience it, and I know that this is only one manifestation) is that the active phase is somehow more emotionally "real" and "intense" than the recovery phase. For me, there is no comparison. During my worst times, I cannot find the energy to care about anything enough to feed myself, wash myself, or hurt myself. I am not sad, or sorrowful. I simply do not matter enough to kill.

When antidepressants start to kick in, I go through a period of intense, real, brutal loneliness, anxiety, and sorrow. Slowly my mental functions return. I become interested in the world again. I begin to desire things. Far from being "sedated" by SSRIs and NSRIs, the thick dark smothering wool I've been wrapped in is torn away by the medication and I am able to feel something other than empty. This process takes a good couple of months.

There are odd tradeoffs. I get "tip-of-the-tongue" syndrome much more often when I'm on medication. But I can think, and feel, and care about the world around me, which is not possible without the medication. Antidepressants do not make me happy. They make me undepressed. They allow me to be me.

I have just been diagnosed as bipolar, so Im reading this thread with interest.
Anyone who thinks its just moodiness or excitability swings is wrong. I hate feeling like this, whether im in a depression event or on a mania - the constant swing from one to another is tiring, and is so unpredictable. Its making work unbearable (for me and the people I work with) home life is getting worse, (my missus is pregnant, and its stressing her out), and to be quite honest, the best way to describe it is feeling like a little boy lost, wandering around confused looking for a friendly face that will say or do the thing that makes it all right. Im hoping now Ive finally gone for help (thanks to my lovely other half) there will be some constant peace rather than this back and forward feeling that is to be honest wearing me right away.