Over-diagnosing bipolar disorder

A year ago researchers at Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University found that fewer than half of the patients previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder actually met the strict criteria for the condition. In a study of 700 patients 145 reported that they had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. However, when they were assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID) it was found that only 43.4% could be diagnosed as bipolar. Over-diagnosing bipolar disorder can unnecessarily expose people to serious side effects affecting kidneys, hormones, livers, immune systems and metabolisms. A year later the researchers tried to give a more accurate diagnosis to the patients misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder. A quarter of them had borderline personality disorder while others had major depression, antisocial personality disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and eating and impulse disorders.

You can find out more about this research at

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/07/090729100936.htm