UK researchers have found that as many as 1 in 4 sufferers of Bipolar Disorder were misdiagnosed as depression. This is pretty serious as the treatment for the two diseases can be radically different. For instance, hypnotherapy is not recommended for sufferers of Bipolar Disorder as it may cause more harm than good. Sufferers of depression, however can see many benefits of hypnotherapy. If an individual was diagnosed with depression, but was really suffering from Bipolar Disorder, there could be disastrous effects.
Evidence shows that misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder is common, and that the diagnosis is made, on average, as many as 10 years after the onset of symptoms. The most common misdiagnosis is with unipolar depression, which is characterized by depressed mood without manic episodes.
The researchers used 3 questionnaires:
- the Mood Disorder Questionnaire, designed to measure the rate of bipolar disorder in the target group
- the Work and Social Adjustment Scale, designed to measure and compare social functioning deficits between unipolar and bipolar patients
- the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire, designed to measure and compare cognitive impairment between the 2 groups.
The link to the full article is here: Bipolar Often Diagnosed as Depression - Psych Central News
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