Posted by Toph on September 5, 2008, at 15:49:14
In reply to Bipolar Spectrum: Very long but very accurate., posted by SLS on September 5, 2008, at 11:15:08
I have a different reaction to this article Scott. When I started developing the symptoms of Bipolar I (then Manic-Depressive illness) 40 years ago, it was a relief to me when I finally realized that I had a distinct diagnosis with symptoms that were fairly specific, predictable and universal. The people whose mania required hospitalization like mine pretty much looked like me with their psychotic features of grandeosity, delusions, loose associations, insomnia, hyperkenetic behavior and the like. Upon leaving the hospital and in an attempt to transition back into society I tried a few public support groups for BP disorder. I rarely found in these groups anyone with similar symptoms as me. They were invariably dominated by depressed individuals or people who called themselves Bipolar Twos or rapid cyclers. I began to feel an identity crisis of sorts as I rarely ever had the opportunity to associate with people like myself outside of the psych ward. Don't get me wrong, it's good that people differentiate and accurately classify psychiatric disorders. It just feels like some of the people who share Bipolar disorder with me don't have my disorder at all. It peeves me at work when physicians lump all the Lewy-Body, Pick's, vascular, and pre-frontal dementias together with Alzheimer's as they present differing challenges for me and their caregivers. Anyway, I hate to sound like a Bipolar snob, but somehow my 5 stays in the locked unit of a psych ward has made me kind of sensitive to others using my diagnosis loosely. I wonder if anyone else feels little possesive about their diagnoses as I do. For me, different disorders should have different names - otherwise they should just call us all crazy.
poster:Toph
thread:850483
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080903/msgs/850516.html