Did you know
that Bipolar disorder could be misdiagnosed as Major depressive disorder?
According to researchers, the incidence of both disorders is similar. There are
complexities to diagnosing each one of these disorders but there are some clear
signs that a client may have Bipolar disorder instead of depression. Why is
this so important? The medications to treat these disorders are different and a
client may not have symptom relief if they are prescribed the incorrect
medication. For example, antidepressants do not treat the symptoms of bipolar
depression and may be labeled as treatment resistant depression. These symptoms
can go under treated for years if the correct diagnosis is not made.
In a National
Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), it was found that young people are more
likely than adults to be misdiagnosed as depressive instead of bipolar. This is
highly significant because these youth continue to have bipolar symptoms even
after being treated with psychotropic medications!
Bowden
suggests that we must be suspicious of a bipolar diagnosis if any of the
following symptoms are present:
•
younger
age of onset of symptoms
•
high
frequency of depressive episodes
•
greater
portion of time ill
•
acute
onset or resolution of symptoms
•
more
mood lability during the episode
•
more
motor retardation
•
greater
time spent sleeping
•
on
psychometric tests, bipolar clients scored higher on extroversion, novelty
seeking, being less judgmental
•
depression
in the post partum period & seasonal depression
•
high
energy
•
high
capacity for productive work
•
impatient
and easily annoyed
•
client
is taking antidepressant and subsequently develops mood lability
Contact us to
schedule an appointment if you or your loved ones has any of these symptoms and
needs counseling. Call 561-373-2347 or email us at info@CCCCpb.org.
Bowden, C.L.
(2001). Strategies to reduce misdiagnosis of bipolar depression.
Psychiatric Services 52:1, 51-55.
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