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Good point, Venus. Pdocs should be explaining to patients why they are making whatever diagnosis they are making (not just bipolar); they should be able to back it up, based on what the patient has reported, their own personal experience (assuming they have enough), the most current research (not just the DSM, because it is 'updated' in some ways all the time through a lot of research conducted in the interim between DSM publications), and last but certainly not least, their observations of the patient over time, which I think is important and why it can take time.
But unfortunately, both from my own experiences, and from what I read of some others, a lot of pdocs are not great communicators. If nothing else, this often means that it's up to the patient to ask the questions, make sure they're answered, bring up concerns, etc. Who knows really what goes on in these people's heads? -Sometimes we have to drag it out of them. I think that's one of our roles, anyway, in the pdoc-patient relationship, for better or for worse, fair or not.
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