Posted by linkadge on May 11, 2007, at 13:29:59
In reply to Re: NIMH on Bipolar Spectrum Disorder » linkadge, posted by polarbear206 on May 11, 2007, at 11:20:10
>If you do a search at pub/med on Akiskal, there >is an abundant amount of literature about past >time spans with undiagnosed bipolar disorders.
All of this is in the stage of theory. There are obviously a number of controversies in the field. For instance there is a *strong* devide on the issue of wheather or not antidepressants can induce mania in non-bipolar individuals. Things like this are going to remain contoversial for a while. I don't see any large scale reformations of the DSM happening over night.
>There are also books written by highly respected >psychiatrist in the field who recognize this >occurs.
There are books written by people who have this particular oppinion. There simply is insufficiant data to conclude things like, "bipolar is vasly underdiagnosed". Sure you can conclude this based on certain samples, and certain populations, but there is no guarentee that this extends to the general population.
>Akiskal and others have been doing research on >broading the boundaries of bipolar disorders for >years, and finally the word is getting out >there.What good will it do? You honestly think that more people are going to get well on mood stabilizers? You're going to get more diabetes, more burnt out thyroids, more liver dammage, more zombies, more sapped creativity. A large portion of bipolar individuals are disabled. More bipolar diagnoses, means more impairing drugs. I know a number of people who find their previous jobs to be too difficult under the weight of theraputic doses of lithium etc. There are even authors who suspect that the high rate of disability within the bipolar population is *because* of the treatments, and not inspite of the treatments.
I'm sorry. I just don't really see the bipolar diagnosis as helping people who are only mildly bipolar, or "soft" bipolar (whatever that is).What are you going to take for *soft* bipolar? Soft lithium? Soft zyprexa?
Linakdge
poster:linkadge
thread:757178
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20070509/msgs/757797.html