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Lolla
Casual Contributor

Concern on misdiagnosed

I've been diagnosed bipolar but I'm worried I actually have boarderline personality disorder seems I fit that profile more anyone else had issues with this?

7 REPLIES 7

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

Hi @Lolla,

Welcome to Forum Land. Smiley Happy 

Yes, misdiagnosis is a big issue in the area of mental health. Compared to other areas of health, I believe we are still very much in the dark ages regarding mental illness. It is not at all uncommon for people to end up with a whole shopping list of diagnoses as they go from one health professional to another. 

I have BPD and I went through a very brief stage of being diagnosed with bipolar many years ago. This was based on a ten minute consultation with a psychiatrist. I told him I got super big feelings. It was on that basis alone that he diagnosed me with bipolar and put me on medication. It was absurd. 

Are you familiar with how a diagnosis is made? The diagnostic criteria for mental health conditions are listed in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders - fifth edition (DSM V). Basically it's a tick-a-box thing whereby the health professional tries to figure out if you tick enough boxes to get a particular label. There is a lot of overlap between some diagnoses, which is why people often get a different diagnosis from different mental health professionals. The DSM-V does discuss how to do a "differential diagnosis" which means how to, for example, distinguish between BPD and Bipolar. 

If you believe that BPD fits better than bipolar, I would suggest getting a second (and third and fourth) opinion. It can be helpful to be familiar with the DSM-V criteria so that you can articulate why you think one diagnosis fits better than another. It sounds like you might already have a sense of this, given you are questionning the bipolar diagnosis. 

Changing the subject, have you been exploring the forum? This is a good place to introduce yourself: Introduce yourself here  and this is a good place to start chatting and getting to know people: Good morning.

There are quite a few people with BPD here in Forum Land so please feel free to ask more questions. If you want to let someone know you have responded to them, you need to put the @ symbol in front of their name. That way they will receive a notification about your post. 

I hope you can feel well supported here Lolla. Smiley Happy

Former-Member
Not applicable

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

Hi @Lolla,

Welcome to Sane. If you feel the diagnosis is not correct I would strongly advise to seek a second opinion. It is never advisable or wise to diagnose ourselves from symptoms/disorders/criteria we read on the internet, books or from others.  Always best to seek a professional diagnosis to best treat any mental or physical illness I have found in my personal experience. My daughter has been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and BPD.

The latter is a very diverse set of symptoms categorised when mental issues are very complex and when there is no other disorder that fits and treatment is very limited (mainly DBT therapy). Its not black and white or definite.

If it is bi-polar disorder that you suffer and it is not treated it can get serious and/or worse. We do need to put our faith in a reputable psychiatrist/psychologist for the best chance of recovery as we cannot do it alone. Wishing you all the best

 

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

Hi @Former-Member and @Lolla,

It definitely used to be the case that anyone seen as complex or difficult to treat was given the label of BPD. However, thankfully that is gradually changing.

The diagnostic criteria for BPD are quite specific. There are nine diagnostic criteria and a person must have at least five of them to receive the diagnosis. The diagnostic criteria are listed on p. 663 of the DSM-V.  BPD is very treatable, the problem is that treatment is intensive and long-term which sadly means it is out of reach of most people. Thus those of us with BPD tend to get band-aide solutions a lot of the time. Smiley Sad

@Lolla I guess what you are seeing here is different attitudes to diagnosis and mental health professionals. Smiley Happy I personally do not understand why "professionals" are considered somehow more capable of reading the DSM-V that anyone else. However, I respect that we live in a society where for whatever reason, this is the case.

About four years ago, I figured out that I had Asperger's syndrome. No one had ever picked this up in the 17 years and 40+ psychiatric admissions that I'd had. After I figured it out for myself, I paid hundreds of dollars to get assessed at an autism specialist clinic because I knew no one would believe me unless an "expert" had given me the diagnosis. I walked out with the diagnosis confirmed about 90 minutes later. So yep, my attitudes towards mental health professionals and the value of expert opinion versus doing one's own research is very much shaped by my experiences. However, I completely respect that others hold different views. Smiley Happy

Former-Member
Not applicable

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

Hi @Lolla,

First of all Welcome to the Forums! Smiley Happy Thank you so much for sharing your concern around being misdiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, when you feel you may be experiencing Borderline Personality Disorder. Many members here on the forums have spoken about misdiagnosis and concerns around misdiagnosis. As @Phoenix_Rising and @Former-Member said, if you feel you have been incorrectly diagnosed, a great next step is to get a second/third opinion. Smiley Happy

If you feel it would be helpful, I have hyperlinked some specific threads around misdiagnosis and Borderline Personality Disorder, as follows: "Newly (and finally) diagnosed with BPD by @Raven; and "What I wish the rest of the world knew," by @catalytic.

I hope these resources are helpful. Please keep us updated, and let us know the next step you take to address your concerns around being misdiagnosed. Hopefully, other members respond to this thread, talking about similar issues, and how they have approached such concerns.

 

Kindest,

Amour_Et_Psyché

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

hank you so much guys your feed back has been big help I was diagnosed bipolar 2 years ago after suffering depression for many a many years but my diagnosis was made in 5 minutes with very little questions I was then put on a medication which has made me nothing but constantly depressed then when I FINALLY got to see my pshyciaratrist he up my dosage said it would be fine that night I had full on hallucinations it was horrible! So my doctor decided it was best for me to see a new psyc which I have my first app on the 20th it was urgent so I'm having to go though private which with not working is extremely expensive! Unfortunately mental illness runs in the family so I was sort of doomed from the start lol but my birth mother had bpd and I started recently really noticing my behavior thing I have done and I did my research and did my comparing as well has getting options from close family and friends and so far the scale of bipolar to not is about 1 out of chance scale but the bpd was pretty much on the dot I fit every symptom and behavior so instead of asking my new psyc specificly about new medication I'm going to first ask for another diagnosis if I'm going to pay almost $300 he can do it lol
Former-Member
Not applicable

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

Hi @Lolla

Good luck with your appointment with your new psychiatrist on the 20th - please let us know how it goes. Will be interested to hear about it. Hope as a result you will feel much better 😊

Re: Concern on misdiagnosed

I was initially diagnosed by a Psychiatrist of having a typical psychosis and not enough symptoms to warrant the diagnosis of schizophrenia, then schizo-affective and then paranoid schizophrenia, then ptsd and then mild schiz and not all symptoms.........i know i'm not paranoid and my psychologist says i'm not in a state mental health exam.