Some Conditions Misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder, like PTSD

I'm shaking my head in amazement right now. How many times have I written that too often doctors get it wrong because PTSD can look like a lot of other things it isn't? How many times have they gotten it wrong because it was easy to find what they were looking for instead of really listening to the patient they just met and what else was going on in their life to diagnose them right?

PTSD comes after trauma and begins from that. There is no other way to have PTSD. It is an emotional wound setting off all kinds of other changes in the way people think, live, feel and deal with life but the long, long list of symptoms can look like a lot of other mental illnesses.

Usually when I do a post about this, I get emails coming in telling me I'm an idiot, reminding me that I'm not a doctor (as if I needed to be reminded of that) and they knew more than I did. The problem is, they never stopped to figure out where I was getting all my facts from during all these years. I read the real experts on PTSD and learned from the PTSD veterans themselves, plus living with my own husband. So thank you very much Brown University for this vindication!

Some Conditions Misdiagnosed as Bipolar Disorder
By Amy Norton
August 13, 2009

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A study published last year suggested that bipolar disorder may be over diagnosed in people seeking mental health care. Now new findings shed light on which disorders many of these patients actually have.

Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, involves dramatic swings in mood -- ranging from debilitating depression to euphoric recklessness.

In the original 2008 study, researchers at Brown University School of Medicine found that of 145 adults who said they had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, 82 (57 percent) turned out not to have the condition when given a comprehensive diagnostic interview.

In this latest study, published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the researchers used similar standardized interviews to find out which disorders those 82 patients might have.

Overall, they found, nearly half had major depression, while borderline personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety and social phobia were each diagnosed in roughly one-quarter to one-third.

In addition, he told Reuters Health in an email, over diagnosis means some patients are likely not getting the appropriate care for the problems they do have.

Bipolar disorder shares certain characteristics with some other psychiatric conditions. Borderline personality disorder, for instance, is marked by unstable mood, impulsive behavior and problems maintaining relationships with other people.

read more here
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=8322028