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Speaker 1: Hi guys, and welcome to a new episode of couch

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Speaker 1: Talks on You Need Therapy Podcast. My name is Kat.

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Speaker 1: I am the host, and if you are unfamiliar with

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Speaker 1: what couch Talks is, it is the special BOTUS episode

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Speaker 1: of You Need Therapy where we answer or I answer

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Speaker 1: the questions that you guys send in to me at

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Speaker 1: Catherine at You Need Therapy podcast dot com. Now a

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Speaker 1: quick reminder before we get into today's episode that although

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Speaker 1: I am answering your questions, this still does not serve

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Speaker 1: as a replacement or substitute for any actual mental health services. Now,

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Speaker 1: per usual, we do one question episode and we always

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Speaker 1: keep them anonymous, and we're actually answering the second question

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Speaker 1: from the listener from last week who wrote in asking

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Speaker 1: about some spirituality stuff and how to tell a difference

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Speaker 1: between mental health issues and spiritual issues. And here is

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Speaker 1: her second question. During a recent appointment with my psychiatrist,

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Speaker 1: the doctor stated that my history strongly suggests the presence

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Speaker 1: of bipolar two and recommended I follow the treatment plan accordingly.

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Speaker 1: He said it typically takes over ten years to properly

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Speaker 1: diagnose patients with bipolar two, and that most are misdiagnosed

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Speaker 1: and treated for depression slash anxiety, as I have been.

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Speaker 1: He said that it typically takes over ten years to

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Speaker 1: properly diagnose patients with bipolar two, and that most are

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Speaker 1: misdiagnosed and treated for depression slash anxiety, likely due to

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Speaker 1: the fact that hypomanic episodes are subtle and not as

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Speaker 1: intense as manic episodes with bipolar one. I'm still wrapping

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Speaker 1: my head around this and trying to do as much

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Speaker 1: research as I can. I am also trying to understand

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Speaker 1: certain patterns of my behavior to see if this diagnosis

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Speaker 1: resonates with my lived experience. It's a lot to take in.

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Speaker 1: Do you have patients who struggle with bipolar two? Do

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Speaker 1: you have any resources you can recommend for this specific topic.

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Speaker 1: Most of the information I'm finding out there is reverlent

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Speaker 1: for bipolar one, but not as much for other diagnoses

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Speaker 1: on the spectrum of bipolar all right, So for anybody

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Speaker 1: who is not familiar with bipolar disorder, there are two

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Speaker 1: main forms that most people who are familiar with bipolar

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Speaker 1: disorder of any form are familiar with. So there's bipolar

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Speaker 1: one and bipolar two. Now, they can be similar, but

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Speaker 1: they also are very different. So bipolar one includes having

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Speaker 1: at least one manic episode, and bipolar two will have

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Speaker 1: something that is called hypomania, which is a less severe

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Speaker 1: form of mania. Now, both may have bouts of depression,

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Speaker 1: so you're gonna see that with both. However, people who

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Speaker 1: are struggling with bipolar two might have more severe bouts

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Speaker 1: of depression, or their experiences of depression might last a

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Speaker 1: little longer. And also, not to make this more confusing

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Speaker 1: than it already is, people who have bipolar one also

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Speaker 1: might have hypomania, but they have to have had at

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Speaker 1: least one experience of mania as well. And somebody who

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Speaker 1: has bipolar two has not experienced mania, they are only

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Speaker 1: going to if they experience a form of this, they're

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Speaker 1: going to have hypomania. Now, it's also important to mention

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Speaker 1: here that bipolar does not look like what I think

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Speaker 1: a lot of people out there think it looks like.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't look like swift mood swings that happen like

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Speaker 1: within thirty seconds. They are longer lasting, more prevalent shifts.

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Speaker 1: And so when we say things like, oh my gosh,

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Speaker 1: he's so bipolar or she was being so bipolar, we're

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Speaker 1: very much mislabeling what we are experiencing with the people

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Speaker 1: around us, because that is not what this disorder looks

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Speaker 1: like at all. It's also worth mentioning here that something

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Speaker 1: I have found difficult at times is and i' mean

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Speaker 1: difficult as a practitioner, as a clinician, trying to differentiate

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Speaker 1: between borderline personality disorder and bipolar disorder, because a lot

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Speaker 1: of their symptoms can mimic the other. Now, one is

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Speaker 1: a personality disorder. Borderline personality disorder is a personality disorder,

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Speaker 1: and there is not specifically medication that you can take

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Speaker 1: that will take away some of these symptoms. There are

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Speaker 1: medications you can take that can help alleviate some of

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Speaker 1: the things that come along with borderline personal disorder, but

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Speaker 1: that is a disorder that is largely built and created

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Speaker 1: out of severe trauma, and that is a result in

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Speaker 1: symptoms of experiencing severe trauma. And so a lot of

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Speaker 1: the treatment for that is going to be more on

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Speaker 1: the therapy side. And like I said, you can take medications,

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Speaker 1: but there's not a medication to cure that. Now, bipolar

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Speaker 1: disorder is actually more of a chemical imbalance that is

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Speaker 1: largely inherited from genetics. In which which there can be

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Speaker 1: a large medication management portion of this in the treatment,

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Speaker 1: so they are very different. One is based more specifically

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Speaker 1: and strictly within the chemical imbalances in your brains, within

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Speaker 1: neuro transmitters and stuff like that, and one is a

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Speaker 1: result of trauma that it has more to do with

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Speaker 1: our own behavior and our beliefs and our own fears

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Speaker 1: rather than the chemicals in our brain. And I know,

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Speaker 1: as I'm saying this, this probably sounds very confusing, but

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Speaker 1: it is worth noting that as we're talking about the

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Speaker 1: difficulty in diagnosing it, that's another part that can be

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Speaker 1: really difficult is seeing these things that can look very similar,

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Speaker 1: seeing them as different, and being able to really take

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Speaker 1: the time to assess where the symptoms are coming from. Now,

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Speaker 1: I have not ever heard someone say specifically that it

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Speaker 1: takes ten years to diagnose a patient with bipolar disorder.

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Speaker 1: I think that it's probably true that it has taken

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Speaker 1: ten years for some people to be properly diagnosed, But

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Speaker 1: I do believe that it sometimes can take a good

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Speaker 1: bit to properly assess the symptoms. And that's connected to

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Speaker 1: what I just said above about how it can be

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Speaker 1: difficult to differentiate between certain things. And then the other

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Speaker 1: thing is it can take a good bit of time

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Speaker 1: to find the proper medication regimen because there isn't just

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Speaker 1: one regimen that works for everybody that has this disorder.

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Speaker 1: It's going to be based on a lot of things,

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Speaker 1: and you might have to try a lot of things

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Speaker 1: out and that can be exhausting, it can be just

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Speaker 1: kind of disappointing. It can be difficult and disheartening. And

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Speaker 1: so anybody who has gone through that or is going

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Speaker 1: through that, I want you to know that it is difficult,

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Speaker 1: not because you're being difficult or because there's something wrong

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Speaker 1: with you. It's just a hard process that hasn't been

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Speaker 1: easily nailed down yet. Because we are created so differently

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Speaker 1: and there are so many forms of our brains and

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Speaker 1: how they work and how they function, and that what

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Speaker 1: we do that might impact how they function. There are

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Speaker 1: a lot of symptoms within mental health disorders that cross

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Speaker 1: over between different disorders, and so it can take a

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Speaker 1: good bit, like I said, to understand the spectrum of

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Speaker 1: somebody's symptoms. So again I don't know that it necessarily

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Speaker 1: has to take ten years. It can take ten years,

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Speaker 1: but I think it's pretty fair to say it's okay

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Speaker 1: if it takes a little longer, because we want to

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Speaker 1: really sit down and be intentional about what we're looking at,

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Speaker 1: versus just being like, oh, this sounds like this, let's

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Speaker 1: give them that now. As far as resources, I don't

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Speaker 1: have a lot of specific things that I would recommend

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Speaker 1: for you other than something like using the Bipolar two

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Speaker 1: workbook that you can get off of Amazon. But what

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Speaker 1: can be really helpful, I believe, is to just keep

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Speaker 1: a journal for yourself so you can look back and

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Speaker 1: assess how your symptoms show up in different times, so

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Speaker 1: you have an accurate description from where you were and

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Speaker 1: how you felt in that moment, versus having to go

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Speaker 1: back and think about what things were like, think about

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Speaker 1: what certain moments were like, or think about where your

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Speaker 1: headspace your head was at in certain spaces. I would

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Speaker 1: also recommend seeing a professional who can take time to

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Speaker 1: sit down with you and explain what you're experiencing and

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Speaker 1: what this diagnosis means, because there's a lot of stuff

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Speaker 1: out there on the Internet that sometimes it is confusing,

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Speaker 1: but also sometimes it's just wrong, and you shouldn't have

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Speaker 1: to do cartwheels to find a description of something somebody

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Speaker 1: has diagnosed you with Now, what I would want you

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Speaker 1: to know about this diagnosis, if this is to be

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Speaker 1: an accurate diagnosis for you, is that it doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to be a bad thing. It can be a very

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Speaker 1: helpful answer, and someone who is living with bipolar disorder

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Speaker 1: has the ability to live a full and wonderful long life.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't mean you're going to be written with horrible

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Speaker 1: mood swings and instability for the rest of your life.

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Speaker 1: And with the true understanding of what's going on, you

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Speaker 1: get to have the opportunity to find out what medications

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Speaker 1: are right for you, what behavioral changes might be right

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Speaker 1: for you, what therapy isan be the best for you,

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Speaker 1: so you can balance that imbalance that you have been

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Speaker 1: experiencing in your brain. However, with that, I would definitely

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Speaker 1: talk with your doctor about things that might impact this,

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Speaker 1: so things that you wouldn't want to be doing while

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Speaker 1: you're trying to figure all this out, things like drinking, smoking, etc.

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Speaker 1: Because the right medication regimen can be easily ruined by

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Speaker 1: something like that. And I also want to add that

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Speaker 1: this disorder has really received a stigma that it does

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Speaker 1: not deserve, and that is what I was getting at

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Speaker 1: with the they are so bipolar comment that I made above.

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Speaker 1: It paints this disorder in a light that is just

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Speaker 1: so inaccurate. And you can actually be best found with

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Speaker 1: somebody with bipolar disorder and never know it because they're

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Speaker 1: taking care of themselves well and they found that medication

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Speaker 1: that works for them, and they do the things that

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Speaker 1: they have found that help them maintain stability. And so

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Speaker 1: those comments can really hurt somebody that you would have

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Speaker 1: no idea they would hurt because you actually don't know

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Speaker 1: those people actually have that disorder. And it also just

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Speaker 1: paints people struggling with this or people that have this

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Speaker 1: in a horrible light, and they are just people like

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Speaker 1: any other people. We all have things that we have

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Speaker 1: to work on pay attention to. I mean, think about

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Speaker 1: somebody who coulds cancer. Isn't a bad person or isn't

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Speaker 1: a crazy persons. We don't get these things based on

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Speaker 1: any moral compass. They are just things that happen in

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Speaker 1: the world, and there's no moral or value reasoning behind it.

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Speaker 1: So I really just always feel the need to say

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Speaker 1: that when we're talking about specifical really all mental health diagnoses,

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Speaker 1: because they all can have a pretty wrong stigma, but

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Speaker 1: specifically ones like this because you didn't do anything to

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Speaker 1: get this, and even if you did, I mean, even

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Speaker 1: if you did do something and that's why you have this,

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Speaker 1: it doesn't mean that you deserve to suffer. People with

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Speaker 1: this disorder don't deserve to suffer, and they're not trying

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Speaker 1: to create suffering for themselves or other people, and so

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Speaker 1: I think that's important to keep in these conversations. So,

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Speaker 1: as always, I hope this was helpful. I know I

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Speaker 1: didn't have a lot of resources, but I just really

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Speaker 1: do want to encourage you to ask the people that

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Speaker 1: you are working with the things that you want to know,

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Speaker 1: and if they can't give you the answer, then you

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Speaker 1: can say, Okay, well I'd like to speak to somebody

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Speaker 1: who can. Because if somebody's treating your mental health disorder,

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Speaker 1: they should be able to give you these these kinds

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Speaker 1: of answers. And that is going to do it for today.

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Speaker 1: If you guys have any questions, feedback, comments, if you

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Speaker 1: have resources that you've used and you have bipolar disorder,

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Speaker 1: then please send them to me. You can send them

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Speaker 1: to Katherine at nitherapy podcast dot com. You can send

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Speaker 1: me really anything there questions, feedback, all the things. You

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Speaker 1: can follow us at you Therapy Podcasts on Instagram and

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Speaker 1: at cat dot Defada, And I'll be back with you

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Speaker 1: guys on Monday for a very fun episode of You

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Speaker 1: Need Therapy that I am excited about. So until then,

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Speaker 1: I hope you have the day you need to have

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Speaker 1: and I will talk to you soon