Mood Swings

Regarding the doctor's article about over dx of bipolar disorder....I just feel a liitle sad that I know that the proper dx and meds have made such a difference in my life. It burdens me that there are not more efforts at exposing this illness and how devastating but treatable it can be. Also, I so wish that an influential person could educate people about two things: 1) Don't confuse bi-polar with multiple personality disorder 2) There are many different degrees of the severity of bi-polar, meaning that we who have a relatively mild case don't have to be "feared" as someone who might "go crazy."

There is a joke in my house, when you walk into a psychiatrists office you should get 900mg. of lithium and a gram of depakote. You come back in a month. If you are not improved we start thinking of other things. At least do no harm.
Bipolar Disoder should be by definition that disorder which responds to mood stabilizers and and major depressive disorder should be that disorder which responds to anti depressants.
Just make diagnosis be determined by response to medication, say in a year. Whatever!!! No mixing. I know of know creditable evidence that mood stabilizers and anti depressants are complementary.

Even within the medical community I feel that there exist natural prejudice to view behaviors as being outside of pathology. We have long been conditioned to view our cognisance as something with little relationship to biology. Compound that with BD's periods of euthymia and it reinforces those very biases. It is unfortunate that the Brown study was so poorly done, it makes one wonder its outcome was preordained.