Thread: Pdoc labels
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Old Oct 20, 2013, 01:31 PM
ultramar ultramar is offline
Poohbah
 
Member Since: Mar 2013
Location: USA
Posts: 1,486
My old pdoc said that whether you are BP or BP and GAD, etc is determined by whether or not the other symptoms subside after your BP episode is finished (I hope I said that clearly enough).

Thanks for this, I had never thought of it this way. As I've said before, one way in which I personally conceptualize bipolar is that, between episodes, you are just 'you' (your 'normal,' your 'baseline'), if that makes sense. In other words, you're not bipolar between bipolar episodes, you are who you are (with all of your psychological issues, personality characteristics, quirks, etc.).

In this context, what you say above makes a lot of sense to me. So if you suffer from a great deal of anxiety between episodes, then it's likely you suffer from a co-morbid (or separate) anxiety disorder -do you think this is what your pdoc was saying?

About psychosis, since you're diagnosed BP I and psychosis can be a component of this, maybe it's encompassed within the bipolar diagnosis? As someone said, there is a psychotic disorder nos, but if it occurs during your episodes, I would think it would be the BP? What does your pdoc say?
Thanks for this!
cashart10, Phoenix_1