Posted by SLS on October 17, 2015, at 22:05:44
In reply to @SLS does diagnosis matter that much? (nm), posted by Lamdage22 on October 17, 2015, at 11:15:42
I don't know how much it helps if you have the right diagnosis, but it sure doesn't help to have the wrong one. Diagnosis can help guide treatment direction, but not always forecast with certainty the success of any one treatment choice.
An MAOI is not the best choice for someone who has bipolar disorder I or schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type). However, it might be a good choice for psychotic depression. So, a misdiagnosis of psychotic depression could end up setting the stage for a psychotic reaction to an antidepressant. The only time I become psychotically manic is in association with MAOIs. This hasn't happened since I began taking Abilify. To know in advance that I was bipolar rather than the unipolar diagnosis that I had wrongly been given, I might have avoided hospitalizations. In 1987, my doctor at the time could have given me lithium in addition to Parnate in an effort to prevent a manic switch. The occurrence of mania caused my diagnosis to be revised. That's why I always try to ask what one's *current* diagnosis is. Without a way to evaluate one's biology with precision using trait markers, diagnosing mental illness must remain a fluid process.
- ScottSome see things as they are and ask why.
I dream of things that never were and ask why not.- George Bernard Shaw
poster:SLS
thread:1083544
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20150301/msgs/1083568.html