Have Any Sufferers Been Misdiagnosed With Another Mental Illness?

[Deleted member 14228]

I was told the same thing @shimmerz

I had never had a manic or hypo-manic episode in my life but was told that I was bipolar because antidepressants didn't help me like they should.

Psychiatry seems to make things up as it goes. Diagnosing bipolar due to antidepressants being ineffective is like diagnosing a brain disorder because Tylenol doesn't get rid of your headache. (Gee, I'd have that brain disorder, too, because Tylenol does nothing for me.) Its crazy to diagnose another disorder because a medication doesn't work.

 

[Queen Boudica]

because antidepressants didn't help me like they should.

That is so crazy. DSM diagnosis antidepressants don't work so it must be bipolar. For God's sake.

These psychiatrists should be diagnosed with schizophrenia. They are clearly delusional

 

[Neverthesame]

These psychiatrists should be diagnosed with schizophrenia. They are clearly delusional

Unless the psychiatrist is male. Then it would obviously have to be postpartum depression. :sneaky:

 

[shimmerz]

Sorry, my post should have read 80 - 90 percent. Not 8-90 percent. I am sure you would have all figured that out, but thought I would clarify.

<fixed that for you - mod>

 

[Queen Boudica]

Ha yes but you'd still prescribe antipsychotics for postpartum depression. They are used for everything. Miracle cure, even for insomnia, depression, PTSD, dementia. the list goes on and on as to how many uses they can find for these drugs. I mean why don't we do what some psychiatrists are researching and give antidepressants to young people so they don't get depression and anxiety. Why not antipsychotics? Obviously no-one would ever suicide then. Just pop them like vitamin pills. Oh so angry

 

[sun seeker]

I was diagnosed and treated - unsuccessfully - for depression on a few occasions. But then, that's because I showed up and told the doctors that was what I had, because I didn't know any better. They asked the few cursory questions they ask to diagnose depression, I scored high, and they didn't dig any further.

I have a strong fear of doctors in general and avoid them unless absolutely necessary, so I've never had a family doctor (or not since the pediatrician I had decades ago). I'm beginning to see the need to do something about that. It's been easy enough to go to clinics when I get desperate, and funding (yes, in Canada's internationally renowned health care system) is such that the doctors have maybe ten minutes to spend with each patient. So I could go in and say I was having, say, a problem sleeping, and they'd treat me for that, but not probe any further into what was causing the insomnia. It wasn't until I was already pretty sure I had PTSD that I went to a psychiatrist who took the time to ask pertinent questions and give me a diagnosis.

And even then, the psychiatrist still wants to treat my PTSD with antidepressants!

 

[shimmerz]

<fixed that for you - mod>

Thank you mod!

 

[sun seeker]

I had never had a manic or hypo-manic episode in my life but was told that I was bipolar because antidepressants didn't help me like they should.

A locum once tried to give me medication for bipolar even though no one ever diagnosed me as bipolar, just because the antidepressants weren't working and she figured she should cover all her bases. :confused:

 

[shimmerz]

There is a Youtube video out there called DSM: Psychiatry's Deadliest Scam. They sent a bunch of people to psychiatrists with the SAME symptoms. This is given that psychiatrists even follow the DSM, which, as stated above, they many times do not. People walked out with a myriad of conditions diagnosed - with the same symptoms presented to each one! Really? Anyway, worth watching if you have the time.

With or without the DSM, this 'industry' is messed and as far from scientific as I have ever seen.

 

[sun seeker]

People walked out with a myriad of conditions diagnosed - with the same symptoms presented to each one!

I can believe it. I don't know if this experience is typical, but when I wanted a diagnosis I had to go through two appointments first with a sort of assistant before getting to the psychiatrist, and we went through a long questionnaire the psychiatrist apparently asked every new patient to complete. If I hadn't been insistent on saying something about what I thought was wrong with me, I don't know if we would ever have gotten there. There were questions about my family tree, questions about whether I had liked school, questions about my sexual preferences (are they even allowed to ask that?) and generally a lot of stuff I felt was irrelevant. After the first round, based on the questions they asked, they could probably have diagnosed me with an anxiety disorder and left it at that - but that's because they didn't ask other kinds of questions. Is this usually how the diagnostic procedure works? Even at that, once I got to the psychiatrist I had to keep inserting information about symptoms I have that they weren't asking about. I have to wonder how many people fall through the cracks because they aren't persistent enough or don't know what to ask (or are too dazed or too intimidated by authority figures, or whatever).

A lot of those 80-90% of people in assisted housing with untreated trauma, is probably the answer to that. :(

 

[Queen Boudica]

Very many. If my psychologist hadn't got to me first, I wouldn't have had a clue about complex trauma. I was thinking I was bipolar, so I would have fallen for it. Who has really heard of complex trauma as a mental illness. It is all talk of bipolar and schizophrenia and depression and anxiety and PTSD for vets or horrific accidents. People don't know.

 

[Mammo]

There is a Youtube video out there called DSM: Psychiatry's Deadliest Scam. They sent a bunch of peopl...

Yeah, it's the "Rosenhan experiment" aka "being sane in insane places" - speaks volumes about confirmation bias by clinicians and MH professionals in inpatient settings.