My previous psychiatrist diagnosed me bipolar 2 and I believe she had good reasons. I was relieved when last week a new psychiatrist described me as having high anxiety that fuels the depression because I had been severely doubting the bipolar 2 diagnosis at the time.

However, I have found a lot of benefit from being on lamictal, even though I am still struggling. Plenty of people with depression and anxiety have benefited from mood stabilizers and antipsychotics. One of the reasons why I was diagnosed bipolar was because antidepressants were ineffective and my psychiatrist wanted to explore mood stabilizing options.

I don't know much about risperidal, but isn't it a strong antipsychotic? THAT seems out of line, starting out on an AP like that.