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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 6 of 6. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by kelly on December 21, 1999, at 1:07:47
my first hospitalization was at 17yrs.old, I was sent becauses i told my teacher that i was thinking of killing myself, with that & the cuts on my wrist. I stayed only 4 days before i was sent to a different hospital,I was told i had a Schizoaffective disorder,i was there for almost 3mos., & when time ran out i was sent to state psychiatric hospital, stayed there 2mos.
I was out for 3 weeks before i tried to hurt myself again,was placed in a different hospital that said i was Bipolar, i stayed there 2mos.I was in & out of the hospital for a yr. after that.
Without treatment for 3yrs. I went back into therapy,& was told i had a adjustment disorder, this was do to moving acrossed country.My psychologist wanted me to go see a psychiatric for antidepressants, He said i was Borderline personality. And 3mos. later i was put in the hospital for major depression & suicide attempt. & was told BPD by one Dr. and in the same place different Dr. he didn't see any BPD.
When i moved back to my own state, I got a new Dr. & new disorder,now W/ all my anxiety/phobias he says that i have depression that well never go away without meds & i well have to be on them for life.So how can i beleive him after hearing so many things from different Dr.'s?
Posted by Noa on December 21, 1999, at 2:29:41
In reply to Different Dr.- Different psychological disorder?, posted by kelly on December 21, 1999, at 1:07:47
Katie, the diagnostic system is just a way to organize how to think about the symptoms that a person presents with. So you presented with a number of troubling symptoms, and each doctor used a different diagnosis that seemed to fit the combination of symptoms. It is likely that your combination of symptoms varied a bit at times. Even so, some of the diagnoses are not that different from each other. And medications these days are used across diagnoses, with the doc really looking at the particular cluster of symptoms and how the person reacts to different meds.
Schizoaffective disorder is a diagnosis that "explains" a combo of mood symptoms and disordered thinking.
Bipolar might have been used because you presented with mood swings or a combo of ups and downs, or extreme irritabiity and depression, etc.
Borderline Personality Disorder is a garbage disposal diagnosis. It is often used if you have labile moods, a lot of anger, dificulty coping, stormy relationships, etc., esp. if you have any kind of trauma in your history, or history of difficult early life, or have an eating disorder, etc.
Adjustment disorder kind of makes me laugh, because it is the most benign diagnosis in the book, and is often used as a way to get insurance coverage for treatment when the person really isn't ill enough to fit other diagnoses. It is probably true that after moving, you did have an adjustmen disorder, but that kind of, um, ignores your history.Depression is one of your symptoms, it sounds like, as are anxiety and fears, as you say.
It isn't unusual to have a lot of confusion about the overall diagnosis, especially when you have a cluster of different symptoms.
Btw, Dr. Akiskal, who is at UCLA, I think, is one of the top current researchers of mood disorders. He seems to think that Borderline personality disorder is really a form of mood disorder, in the family of depression and bipolar. It makes sense because the primary sypmtom is unstable moods. The early history aspect may be sort of beside the point for diagnosis (although not for therapy). I think early history may be the "trigger" that unleashes a predisposition toward a mood problem. Nature and nurture interact and affect each other continuously.
I understand what you mean about it being hard to believe your doc after hearing so many diagnoses. But regardless of the diagnoses, look at your symptoms. Many people with different diagnoses end up on similar meds. IF you are plagued by depressed moods, anxieties and phobias, don't you deserve some relief?
Posted by JohnL on December 21, 1999, at 3:04:30
In reply to Different Dr.- Different psychological disorder?, posted by kelly on December 21, 1999, at 1:07:47
Confusing, isn't it Kelly? Each doc I've seen has a different diagnosis too. Similar, but different. In my opinion all of these disorders, I think, are in the same family. The boundary lines between them are not always clearcut. Not often black and white. Lots of grey areas and overlap. Not only is diagnosis tricky sometimes, but treatment is too. It really seems like an art more than a science. I guess the silver lining is that most of the available drugs have multiple uses for multiple disorders. There is a lot of overlap in what a particular drug can treat. Nevertheless, I hear ya, it is confusing to me too. I've come to trust my own gut instinct more than the doctors' varying opinions. JohnL
Posted by Kelly on December 21, 1999, at 3:17:11
In reply to Re: Different Dr.- Different psychological disorder?, posted by Noa on December 21, 1999, at 2:29:41
> Kelly, the diagnostic system is just a way to organize how to think about the symptoms that a person presents with. So you presented with a number of troubling symptoms, and each doctor used a different diagnosis that seemed to fit the combination of symptoms. It is likely that your combination of symptoms varied a bit at times. Even so, some of the diagnoses are not that different from each other. And medications these days are used across diagnoses, with the doc really looking at the particular cluster of symptoms and how the person reacts to different meds.
> Schizoaffective disorder is a diagnosis that "explains" a combo of mood symptoms and disordered thinking.
> Bipolar might have been used because you presented with mood swings or a combo of ups and downs, or extreme irritabiity and depression, etc.
> Borderline Personality Disorder is a garbage disposal diagnosis. It is often used if you have labile moods, a lot of anger, dificulty coping, stormy relationships, etc., esp. if you have any kind of trauma in your history, or history of difficult early life, or have an eating disorder, etc.
> Adjustment disorder kind of makes me laugh, because it is the most benign diagnosis in the book, and is often used as a way to get insurance coverage for treatment when the person really isn't ill enough to fit other diagnoses. It is probably true that after moving, you did have an adjustmen disorder, but that kind of, um, ignores your history.
>
> Depression is one of your symptoms, it sounds like, as are anxiety and fears, as you say.
>
> It isn't unusual to have a lot of confusion about the overall diagnosis, especially when you have a cluster of different symptoms.
>
> Btw, Dr. Akiskal, who is at UCLA, I think, is one of the top current researchers of mood disorders. He seems to think that Borderline personality disorder is really a form of mood disorder, in the family of depression and bipolar. It makes sense because the primary sypmtom is unstable moods. The early history aspect may be sort of beside the point for diagnosis (although not for therapy). I think early history may be the "trigger" that unleashes a predisposition toward a mood problem. Nature and nurture interact and affect each other continuously.
> I understand what you mean about it being hard to believe your doc after hearing so many diagnoses. But regardless of the diagnoses, look at your symptoms. Many people with different diagnoses end up on similar meds. IF you are plagued by depressed moods, anxieties and phobias, don't you deserve some relief?I guess i do deserve some relief.Thanks for making it easier to understand,something they have a hard time doing.
Posted by Abby on December 21, 1999, at 10:40:52
In reply to Re: Different Dr.- Different psychological disorder?, posted by Noa on December 21, 1999, at 2:29:41
>
>
> Btw, Dr. Akiskal, who is at UCLA, I think, is one of the top current researchers of mood disorders. He seems to think that Borderline personality disorder is really a form of mood disorder, in the family of depression and bipolar. It makes sense because the primary sypmtom is unstable moods. The early history aspect may be sort of beside the point for diagnosis (although not for therapy). I think early history may be the "trigger" that unleashes a predisposition toward a mood problem. Nature and nurture interact and affect each other continuously.
> I understand what you mean about it being hard to believe your doc after hearing so many diagnoses. But regardless of the diagnoses, look at your symptoms. Many people with different diagnoses end up on similar meds. IF you are plagued by depressed moods, anxieties and phobias, don't you deserve some relief?Dr. Akiskal has spoken at UCLA, but he is a
professor at UC San Diego. He runs a mood disorder
center at the medical school which is in La Jolla.
Posted by Noa on December 21, 1999, at 11:29:43
In reply to Miniscule, minor correction to Noa's post, posted by Abby on December 21, 1999, at 10:40:52
Thanks for the correction. : )
This is the end of the thread.
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