Posted by Lyrical13 on February 8, 2004, at 7:55:26
In reply to Re: wonderful (and surprising) news, posted by pegasus on February 5, 2004, at 10:37:12
Thanks to those of you who addressed the SI thing. I have noticed that the majority of the folks who have posted at various threads who SI mention a dx of BP or depression. A few mention a co-morbid dx of BPD but for the majority it is the mood disorder that is predominant. I feel that this is a more accurate dx for my sis. She has almost all of the criteria for BP and only the cutting fits with BPD. I am hoping that more and more docs will become less tied to the DSM-IV and the be-all and end-all when it comes to diagnosis and treatment of their patients. My pdoc says that there is a great debate going on in the psych community re: treatment of BP as well as dx of BP vs depression with GAD. It seems like the good pdocs are trying other non-traditional treatments for BP and treatment-resistant depression to the benefit of their patients. (ie. using AS and AP meds to augment ADs or used as a mood stabilizer)
Also, depression and BP are starting to be seen as more of a spectrum of disorders rather than concrete diagnoses...a mood disorder spectrum that ranges from unipolar major depression to classical bipolar (manic depression) with mood swings from the far ends of the spectrum (major depression to full blown mania) BP2 falls somewhere in the middle with varying degrees of severity and varying degrees of moods. That is, I fall closer to the depression end of the spectrum since that is my major problem but I also am now realizing that I have periods of hypomania. Also, some docs think that you can have mixed states... dysphoric mania e.g. where you have symptoms of mania but also of depression at the same time. Of course, on the other side of the coin are the pdocs who think all of the above is a bunch of poppycock. I'm not sure what their rationale is. The spectrum hypothesis makes a lot of sense to me and I have lived the mixed state experience. Any thoughts from others?
poster:Lyrical13
thread:301953
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040206/msgs/310839.html