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Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex and chronic mental illness with highs and lows beyond the ordinary, which induces a significant risk of suicide. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of being diagnosed with BD and the impact that receiving a correct diagnosis had had on life situati...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Johansson, Cecilia, Werbart, Andrzej
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7554298/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33101109
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.482715
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author Johansson, Cecilia
Werbart, Andrzej
author_facet Johansson, Cecilia
Werbart, Andrzej
author_sort Johansson, Cecilia
collection PubMed
description Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex and chronic mental illness with highs and lows beyond the ordinary, which induces a significant risk of suicide. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of being diagnosed with BD and the impact that receiving a correct diagnosis had had on life situations and relationships with others. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with seven people diagnosed with BD. The results showed that the primary treatment all participants had received or were currently receiving was pharmacotherapy, typically without any psychological component. A major concern that arose was delayed diagnosis, leading to inadequate treatment, and lack of knowledge among professionals about non-typical forms of BD. Moreover, the experiences of others’ reactions were multifold, though generally surprisingly positive. Generally, the participants had learned to recognize, understand and tackle early symptoms of both hypomanic and depressive episodes to avoid developing a full-blown acute episode. This study highlights the crucial importance of a collaborative relationship between the clinician and the patient.
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spelling pubmed-75542982020-10-22 Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder Johansson, Cecilia Werbart, Andrzej Front Psychol Psychology Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex and chronic mental illness with highs and lows beyond the ordinary, which induces a significant risk of suicide. The aim of this study was to explore the experience of being diagnosed with BD and the impact that receiving a correct diagnosis had had on life situations and relationships with others. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with seven people diagnosed with BD. The results showed that the primary treatment all participants had received or were currently receiving was pharmacotherapy, typically without any psychological component. A major concern that arose was delayed diagnosis, leading to inadequate treatment, and lack of knowledge among professionals about non-typical forms of BD. Moreover, the experiences of others’ reactions were multifold, though generally surprisingly positive. Generally, the participants had learned to recognize, understand and tackle early symptoms of both hypomanic and depressive episodes to avoid developing a full-blown acute episode. This study highlights the crucial importance of a collaborative relationship between the clinician and the patient. Frontiers Media S.A. 2020-09-30 /pmc/articles/PMC7554298/ /pubmed/33101109 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.482715 Text en Copyright © 2020 Johansson and Werbart. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Johansson, Cecilia
Werbart, Andrzej
Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder
title Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder
title_full Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder
title_fullStr Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder
title_full_unstemmed Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder
title_short Am I Really Bipolar? Personal Accounts of the Experience of Being Diagnosed With Bipolar II Disorder
title_sort am i really bipolar? personal accounts of the experience of being diagnosed with bipolar ii disorder
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7554298/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33101109
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.482715
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