I have worked with my T about how badly I was treated and frightened in the psych ward. He explained to me that many of these wards are just a holding place that stabilize and process people as quickly as they can to "outpatient" therapy. He told me that attempts are being made to better train the staff to be able to identity the signs that someone is in shock or developing PTSD or is a "trauma" patient. He explained that my behavior patterns of anger/anxiety/fear were misunderstood and that if they had been trained how "trauma" patients react and are less likely to want to take medications and act out, are only doing so because they feel very unsafe and fearful, and should not "push or pressure them" .

Yes, often "bipolar" is diagnosed when a patient who is suffering from "trauma or PTSD" expresses the cycles. Often you will see people saying they have "bipolar and PTSD", when "from what I have read and learned", bipolar is actually rare and not usually "present" when someone is suffering with PTSD.

Also, if a diagnosis of bipolar is given, it is easier to qualify for aide too. It is not fair to the patient because they begin to think their condition is something that they cannot really recover from, where if someone struggles with PTSD, they can learn to cope much better and understand the cycles and slowly learn skills to better manage themselves "slowly".

Yes, you are right, a "manic" episode is different from "a hyper vigilant episode" and someone can have rapid cycles with PTSD, that can look like rapid cycling bipolar too.

Also, psychiatrists tend to want to suggest that if a patient doesn't respond to "anti-depressants" that they may have bipolar 1 without the mania. Well, that's a load of crap because not everyone responds to anti depressants and some just can't get past the side effects.

Mowtown, my stay in that psych ward was something I will never forget. All the other patients were on 4 and 5 different medications, one woman even had shock treatment and was "still struggling". I took some time to talk to her and found out that she had wanted to start a jewelry making business redesigning older jewelry and spent too much money and was so afraid her husband was going to find out. No drug or shock treatment was going to change that enormous fear and guilt she had. I told her the idea was actually a really good one, her problem is that she just didn't know how to move her idea into the next stage of creating a business. My listening and advising did more to help her than any drug or "shock treatment".

When I saw a therapist after I got out of the psych ward, she did say that it was the wrong place for me to go and the only reason I was sent there was because I talked about wanting to "die". I did say that because I had lost so much and basically had a hospital going on my farm, that I was completely exhausted physically and mentally.

This therapist however also misdiagnosed me too. I didn't spend a lot of time talking to her, however I did talk about the "value" of the permanently damaged horses and ponies. She did not believe me and ended up saying I had "illusions of grandeur". To this day, I want so badly to go back to see her and bring the "appraisals" of these "lost horses and ponies" to prove to her that "I am not delusional or making it up".
Now I have that in my records and it is "wrong". Unfortunately, the health insurance I had, we could not afford to continue due to so much financial loss. I had to stop seeing her because I could not afford it. We had so many bills piled up on our table with not enough money to pay them. I feared that my husband would also break down and he eventually did. He got so overwhelmed that he became severely depressed and would not get out of bed for almost a month. Fortunately, I was able to sell one of my investment horses that gave me funds to keep us afloat until he finally was able to function and work again. I was so scared, and of course, that only aggravated the PTSD and I had no help or money to get help either.

Well, now that I have taken time to finally learn about what PTSD means and how it affects me and I finally have a therapist who specializes in it, looking back on how poorly I was diagnosed and treated makes me angry and frustrated.

My T tells me, the system is really broken and "no" it was not fair to me at all.

OE