Wrong Diagnosis

[buddha2020]

Had depression.Doctor wrongly diagnosed as Bipolar.Medicine affected health 2 years.Need to stop this doctor who is mistreating other patients also.As a Social worker need help on getting info to get attention to right agencies and non profit who help in this issue

[Shanchan]

I understand the anger at being misdiagnosed but the psychiatrist is only human and will make mistakes. I feel psychiatrists use generalizations and stereotype people quickly so they can start treatment right away. I think trial and error is the only way they can really work. I'm sorry you had to suffer though, maybe you could work to educate people on the differences between depression and bipolar and how you got worse when treated for bipolar. I am being treated for bipolar II and nothing helps, sometimes I do get worse. Can you tell me what did help you?

[run4you]

I'm just curious... if you think he misdiagnosed you, why did you continue taking the medications for 2 years? Did you get a second opinion? I only ask because I have gotten several opinions... mostly because I didn't believe my first doctor (I convinced myself I had depression and instead took antidepressants, I didn't *want* bipolar). As it turns out, they were absolutely right, I just had to come to terms with it (and have a really bad manic/mixed episode after 6 years of sort of holding it together).

If he did misdiagnose you, that's not necessarily abuse or mistreatment. Psychiatry isn't an exact science... there's no blood test or MRI that can diagnose you definitely with a specific disorder. All they can do is go by self-reported symptoms and symptoms they witness.

That being said, if the psychiatrist did intentionally misdiagnose you for whatever reason, and is purposely mistreating several patients, I completely agree with ILADVOCATE. You'll have to have sworn statements and such from the other patients s/he is mistreating, you'll have to back up your claims with very specific information, and research exactly what violations your doctor committed so you can get together all your proof.

[ILADVOCATE]

You would need specific proof that you were misdiagnosed with bipolar and how the medication you were prescribed affected your health. As well if you believe the doctor is mistreating other patients, you would need written testimony from some other patients. All of this should be carefully considered first as to the specific pertinent regulations as to what constitutes treatment that may not have been correct and an actual violation. From there the best way to address it is to write to the specific agency (there is one in each state) that has oversight over physicians. There are legal libraries where you could do research in obtaining regulations as to what might constitute a violation but it would be essential to follow up on this first. There are non profit legal agencies that might address this but the first step after checking the pertinent regulations would be to address it to the agency that follows up on specific complaints as regards physicians. The issue is complex and its essential to gain some understanding as to whether it was actually a violation to begin with and every concern you have should be fully documented first with specific proof.