Hi,

Today I want to talk to you about bipolar disorder and how it takes these two things for a correct diagnosis of it: time and history.

Many, many people have written or talked to me about how it took them a long time to get diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Even though the mental health professionals (psychiatrists, psychologists, etc.) and even the

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV), which is the “Bible” that

psychiatrists go by to diagnose bipolar disorder will tell you that it’s between ages 17-21 that

you first get diagnosed with bipolar disorder, most people are NOT diagnosed between those

ages. It usually takes more time than that to be diagnosed with the disorder, as most of you will attest. Most people tell me it wasn’t until their thirties or forties that they were finally diagnosed.

And they tell me (most of them) that they pretty much knew that something was wrong with them long before that – usually they say that they knew it their whole lives, even.

So firstly, it takes time to be diagnosed. Mostly because people who have the disorder usually

don’t come to the doctor/psychiatrist when they are younger, because either they are scared, or

they don’t want to hear the diagnosis.

Michele, who works for me, wasn’t diagnosed until she was 45, but when she realized her son

was showing the same symptoms, she got him diagnosed when he was 12 years old. However, she has a 28-year-old son who she believes knows that he has bipolar disorder, but he will not

go to a psychiatrist, because he doesn’t want the diagnosis confirmed.

Maybe because he’s scared, maybe because he’s seen what his mom has gone through, maybe because he knows if he goes to the doctor/psychiatrist, it will become real for him. Maybe because he knows if he gets diagnosed, he’ll be put on medication that he’ll have to take for the

rest of his life. This is called denial, and many people have to face it – they just don’t want to believe that they have bipolar disorder, so they put off getting diagnosed.

When these people who have been in denial finally do seek help, one of the things the doctor/psychiatrist will use to determine the diagnosis will be the person’s history. The doctor/psychiatrist will not only ask for a medical history, but will want a family history as well, because research done on bipolar disorder does show a hereditary element to it, usually passed down the female side of the family, from mother to child. So, like in Michele’s case, it was passed from her to her two sons. Even though one of them is still in denial, he will eventually have to face the truth.

So there is a time element to being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, and there is also a history element.

But what happens AFTER you’re diagnosed?

The first thing is that you have to develop a treatment plan, because without it, you will have no direction to the management of the disorder – and if you ever want to manage it (and it CAN be managed, even if there is no cure – believe me), you must have a treatment plan.

A treatment plan usually consists of medication and therapy. Medication is SO important. Without it, there can be no stability at all. Medication helps to normalize the extremes in mood that bipolar disorder consists of. Although it may take some time to find the right medications

and in the right dosages.

The treatment plan will usually consist of therapy as well – especially in the beginning, because finding out that you have bipolar disorder may now interfere with what your life was like before. You may even go through a “grieving process” over your past life. So you will need therapy for all the issues that the disorder will bring into your life.

Here’s where the supporter will be such a help to you. Supporters help their loved ones in so many ways – they will encourage you, help you learn to take your medications, get to doctor and therapist appointments, learn to de-stress your life, and help manage your disorder.

It may take time and effort to find the right treatment plan for you, but that’s also another way a supporter can help. Most of all, a supporter can help someone with bipolar disorder to realize that they are still loved and cared for in spite of having a disorder that might otherwise cause

them to feel isolated and alone.

Well, I have to go!

Your Friend,

Dave