The lable is an excuse

And you will too

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I need a label to identify what is going on in my head "this is ocd", or "this is depression". How can we explain the daily struggle to the public and people who label their mood swings as bipolar? Its a buzz word.

How do you challenge the stigma when many "oFficially diagnosed" do not actually suffer?

My dad has four daughters. All four of us have BP. Two of us have BP I and the other two have BP II. I will give my sisters different names. My sister Renee knew something was wrong and I could not get her to go to the doctor. She would spend days in bed crying and would not talk to anyone. She was bouncing from job to job. She used marijuana to cope. She finally broke down and went. Renee was dx BPII and given meds. She tossed them and decided she would rather live life the way she was. I've tried to talk to her, educate her, I've suggested therapy and support group. My sister Sam has BPII. She is 22 and was a college student when dx. Sam started taking meds and gained a lot of weight which pissed her off. Then she felt like her pdoc was not listening to her. Sam said she was going to take control. She said, she was not taking meds anymore and didn't have BP. That people only had it if they believe they do. People can get better if they try. She told me this after one of my hospitalizations. We do not even talk abt mental health anymore. My sister Monica has BPII. She told me she has tried several meds and none help her mania. She likes to have sex. Monica is thought of as being a ***** because of her behavior that goes very far back. I did not grow up with her so I'm not sure if anything was tried to fix this during middle and high school. She was dx at 18 and still has yet to be interested in learning coping skills. I first met Monica in 2011. We were going over the basic get to know you info. I told her I worked with the mentally ill population. Monica told me she had a mental illness. i asked her which one she told be "schizophrenia or something like that my doctor told me". Later on throughout the year she has changed her dx to BP schizophrenia. I asked her why was she taking meds for a dx she was not sure what it was. All she knew is she would have mood swings and when she was manic she was horny. She blames having five kids to mania. I told Monica when she had her next appt with her pdoc to simple ask what her dx was. Then ask any questions she has abt the dx. I suggested a therapist. She said, she had tried one in the pasted and it did not work out. I suggested a support group. Monica said she's too confrontational and it would not work. Some people like being clueless and do not want to try.

That is very true. The truth is hard to accept a lot of times even not when talking about mental illness. Some people would rather ignore it and hope it goes away or pretend it's not there. And then when something bad happens they can blame it on that, even when they don't have a full knowledge or grasp on what "that" is. I mean none of us have a full knowledge of it really. And none of us will cure it. But trying is better imo. And to challenging the stigma... I mean.. That's hard. That's why there are organizations like NAMI and stuff that put out stuff all the time about mental health awareness. I make sure to spread stuff all the time about it. The facts, even the uncomfortable ones, that people may not know about the every day lives of people with mental illness. It's all about educating even on a small scale level. I don't have all the answers, none of us do. But we gotta start somewhere.

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Just came across this thread and found it relevant to the previous BPD discussion - http://forums.psychcentral.com/partn...go-away-2.html

BP is chemisty, BPD is not

My Pdoc told me that if the condition is not causing much harm to one's everyday life, relationships, work, etc. IT'S NOT A MENTAL ILLNESS.

I totally agree. I once saw a documentary where a random group were "diagnosed" and those people appeared to have appr. 3 different mental illnesses... Made me feel sick... Medicine industry manipulation or something like that...

Personally i'm very hard on myself about using BP as an excuse. Sometimes even too hard. But lately i have learned that part of my behavior is not under my control no matter how much i would try. I'ts quite relieving to recognize it, so i can be more compassionate to myself, which helps me see my condition more clearly and react better to avoid total disasters...

I wouldn't be surprised if BPD is like fibromyalgia, something that lays dormant in your genes waiting to be triggered.

From Mount Sinai:

"The causes of BPD are not fully understood. It is thought to be a combination of brain chemistry, genetics, and environmental factors. People who develop BPD are probably born vulnerable to the illness. Certain experiences and types of stress may then further increase their chance of developing BPD. Many BPD sufferers are often found to have experienced childhood abuse, neglect, separation, sexual abuse, violence, or brain injury."

Borderline Personality Disorder Information - The Mount Sinai Hospital

This is an NIMH imaging study that shows abnormalities in the brains of pwBPD.

"The imaging studies are the first to link structural brain differences with functional impairment in the same sample of BPD patients. Similar changes in the same circuit have been implicated in mood and anxiety disorders, hinting that BPD might share common mechanisms with mental illnesses that have traditionally been viewed through the lens of biology."

The article also cites a 75% suicide attempt rate and near-10% suicide completion rate.

NIMH » Emotion-Regulating Circuit Weakened in Borderline Personality Disorder

There are a lot of problems with diagnosing BPD because of overlap with other disorders and many people who are just considered traited because they don't meet the minimum 5 criteria in the DSM. There are a huge range of presentations due to the spectrum.

"Some people with borderline personality disorder experience severe symptoms and require intensive, often inpatient, care. Others may use some outpatient treatments but never need hospitalization or emergency care. Some people who develop this disorder may improve without any treatment."

NAMI has good info on the appropriateness (or not) of meds in treating BPD.

No one has answered any of my questions...

Did you know that electrical pathways in the brain can be changed with therapy? Your links do not address my issue.

You can find flimsy links to back up the biological idea but it is widespread among professionals in this country that BPD is personality and can be changed with DBT.

I cant be arsed repeating myself over and over about this, when i know very well how successful DBT is over meds for BPD. It is gold standard treatment because it works long term.

What I want to address is people saying their moods are beyond their control and blame bipolar, when really they are not using the correct techniques

It's not for you to judge whether someone has bipolar or not if they have been diagnosed as bipolar (not talking about self-diagnosis here which baffles me). If they are wanting to challenge the diagnosis themselves for whatever reason then that is their prerogative. If someone tried to invaldiate my diagnosis I'd tell them to eff off, you don't know my struggles. Being diagnosed meant I could connect with others who could understand and read and explore all sorts of media that I could connect to. I found real comfort in that. You also mentioned it being a buzzword, that I understand especially when people are using it in everyday speech "omg the weather is so bipolar today". I don't appreciate that.

Someone mentioned that their pdoc (I think) said if it isn't causing harm in everyday life it isn't mental illness. Very true and obvious for ALL mental illness. The point is, is that it impacts your life in such a way that it requires treatment.

And yes BPD is best being treated using DBT.

sui generis, hey, you said it for me! I agree

I am largely talking about self diagnosis and those diagnosed after one session. Now it has turned into a bpd thread yet again, comorbidity is not as common as one thinks. As after DBT the bipolar goes away too! Magic!

I guess I am getting pissy that it is the most uneducated who scream the loudest "bipolar made me do it"

I think the self or quickly diagnosed want a label they can blame when they do irresponsible actions. Like when kids say it wasn't me it was my invisible friend. They don't work on things that could help them because it's the bipolar not me. They just don't want to be responsible for their own actions.

I once had someone quiz me on my bipolar, then she went to a pdoc and got the diagnosis. After that everything was bipolar's fault not hers. She didn't bother doing therapy or anything because..ya know someone might have told her she wasn't bipolar and the problems were her not being responsible.

The best thing I did was say f#/! The label. I was on the opposite end of what you are saying. 50% of my brain was like ..you have it deal! And the other half was like nope nope nope . It led me to a vicious cycle of going on meds deciding I was fine going off meds having an episode going on meds.....you get the point. So now I just tell myself it doesn't matter WHAT it is you do bad on your own so accept the help

You should have said that before because everybody here was generalizing. And mental health professionals cannot officially diagnose in one session. It requires for the symptoms to be present for s certain amount of time.

My first pdoc as an adult dxd me first session but turns out she was right

My gp dx me first time seeing me.

Technically I helped my pdoc diagnose me. I checked myself in after I crashed for severe depression which was the original diagnosis at 16 (and at 9 but was never treated) and then after going through therapy and education classes at the hospital I was at it became clear to me looking back at my latest episode and my life I fell into a different category - BP. I talked it over with my pdoc discussing that maybe the reason that all these years the reason I was only getting worse and nothing was working is we were coming at it from the wrong angle and explained why. And after further discussion and and I want to get better he agreed fully. Then after talking and him asking me a lot of medically based questions and only then did he change my diagnosis to type two BP II. And since then I have made progress. I'm not fully better. It's only been a year and a half. But im a lot better than I was then

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I was diagnosed the first time I saw a psychiatrist. Previous to that I'd already been jumping through hoops with my gp about my mental health for months (and overall in the system for years). I don't think it's uncommon to be diagnosed on the first meeting especially in the midst of an episode and especially if you already have notes in the system.

It's disappointing to hear there are people out there purposely getting this diagnosis so they can blame their behaviour on the disorder. I think you'll find this is a minority of people though. And I haven't really come across people using bipolar as an excuse for their behaviour. I think it would make me angry if people did mostly because I'd be afraid that other people might start thinking that I am using it as an excuse but in the end i'd realize it is about them not me and says nothing about my own experience. I wouldn't let these type of people bother you, people have been doing this forever in different ways to avoid blame. It won't just be using the bipolar label either they'll claim all sorts of disorders mental and not.

How on earth are docters, epsecially gp's allowed to give a diagnosis of bipolar after one session? They must OBSERVE both mood states for a diagnosis.


Took 3 months inpatient to get my diagnosis

They should never ever give anyone a label after one meeting. Nor should they be told by patients what they have. This is what drives me batty and is why the label is so misused.