- #1
Hobin
- 137
- 2
Hello people at PF,
I'm having a... little problem, and because (in my experience) the people at PF are quite smart, I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me out here.
For a couple of months now, I'm seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist because of some issues with my mental health. I've had some very bad cases of depression, and other periods where I'm extremely productive (although this isn't a problem, per se), so I figured I might be having a form of bipolar. I wasn't sure, of course, so that's why my doctor sent me to see a shrink. Yay.
In any case, a psychologist diagnosed me with either bipolar disorder or recidivistic depression (not quite sure whether that's the correct term in English - it practically means 'cyclical depression'.) The differences between those two - apparently - are that while bipolar disorder is caused by a brain anomaly, we call it recidivistic depression when my depressive periods are caused by circumstances and conditioning. It's an important distinction, because the first one would 'doom' me to rely on medication, whereas the second one can be more easily deal with using therapy (of course these are extremes, some medications and therapy is likely in both cases). So... I was sent to see a psychiatrist to find out which one it was.
This psychiatrist, however, didn't ask me one question about this. Rather, he was one of those people who thinks you should just take some pills, hope for the best, and if you're feeling better you can *then* see if there are any unresolved issues. More importantly, however, is the problem that if what I have *is* bipolar, then taking only antidepressants == not very smart. (As these can induce mania.) In essence, I still don't really know what I have, but a.) if it's recidivistic depression, I don't want to take antidepressants and would rather work out these issues with a therapist, b.) if it's bipolar, taking these antidepressants might do only harm, and c.) that idiot gave me antidepressants and said I was supposed to take them and see 'how things might change'.
What would you do in this case?
And yes, I know we're not giving people diagnoses here, yadda yadda yadda. I'm just interested in your thoughts on this.
I'm having a... little problem, and because (in my experience) the people at PF are quite smart, I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me out here.
For a couple of months now, I'm seeing a psychologist/psychiatrist because of some issues with my mental health. I've had some very bad cases of depression, and other periods where I'm extremely productive (although this isn't a problem, per se), so I figured I might be having a form of bipolar. I wasn't sure, of course, so that's why my doctor sent me to see a shrink. Yay.
In any case, a psychologist diagnosed me with either bipolar disorder or recidivistic depression (not quite sure whether that's the correct term in English - it practically means 'cyclical depression'.) The differences between those two - apparently - are that while bipolar disorder is caused by a brain anomaly, we call it recidivistic depression when my depressive periods are caused by circumstances and conditioning. It's an important distinction, because the first one would 'doom' me to rely on medication, whereas the second one can be more easily deal with using therapy (of course these are extremes, some medications and therapy is likely in both cases). So... I was sent to see a psychiatrist to find out which one it was.
This psychiatrist, however, didn't ask me one question about this. Rather, he was one of those people who thinks you should just take some pills, hope for the best, and if you're feeling better you can *then* see if there are any unresolved issues. More importantly, however, is the problem that if what I have *is* bipolar, then taking only antidepressants == not very smart. (As these can induce mania.) In essence, I still don't really know what I have, but a.) if it's recidivistic depression, I don't want to take antidepressants and would rather work out these issues with a therapist, b.) if it's bipolar, taking these antidepressants might do only harm, and c.) that idiot gave me antidepressants and said I was supposed to take them and see 'how things might change'.
What would you do in this case?
And yes, I know we're not giving people diagnoses here, yadda yadda yadda. I'm just interested in your thoughts on this.