Ok, well I am sure it is possible that someone can be disordered and experience a trauma, even experience abuse because they were not understood by a parent which can then create PTSD. However, my
T also specializes in trauma patients and PTSD and he has explained
to me how PTSD patients can be misdiagnosed with other disorders
because of the PTSD symptoms too.

You may feel your T is right, however, just keep what I said in mind too.
PTSD has a lot of symptoms to it that really can mimic other disorders
and I listed several that my T told me often get diagnosed by mistake.
I think it is important for the T to take time and listen to a patient's history, not be too quick to diagnose, but take more time with that.

It's good that you are happy with your T, that is very important IMHO. My T has helped me understand a lot too and has explained to me "why" I was misdiagnosed in spite of the clear red flags I was expressing that was clear I was a trauma patient suffering from post traumatic stress. He told me unfortunately there are specialists that still misdiagnose out there too, still go by old observations and diagnosing.

Your diagnoses may very well be correct, I am not a specialist like your treatment provider.

How to Know If You Have Been Misdiagnosed With Bipolar Disorder - Wellsphere

I posted this link because it talks about what the real symptoms of Bipolar
is verses other things a patient can say or complain of that are "not" bipolar.

When I broke down because I not only saw my neighbor's dog cause so much damage, but I had been tending to that damage for almost 5 months non stop, had to also run my business, and had very little sleep, I was in constant hyper vigilance, even slept in the barn to keep an eye on a sick pony. I did not know what hyper vigilance or trauma was, I thought I was having a nervous break down, I was genuinely physically, emotionally, and mentally exhausted and could no longer function. I was also overwhelmed with grief and anger, and after working so hard to save one of my ponies for a few months with IV's and medications and constant care, I lost that battle and had to put her down and she followed me faithfully to a grave we had dug as she had always done because she was so good and trusting of me.

By the time I got to the psych ward, I was so tired doglover and suicidal, I was pushed way beyond my limit in every way. I complained of feeling like I was having a nervous break down and I asked for rest and grief counseling. I was also irritable and rambling because I was so completely exhausted. The psychiatrist felt that I was "wrong" to be like that and decided I was narcissistic. What my therapist told me is that when a patient presents like I did, they are clearly overwhelmed with shock from being traumatized and are often very agitated and even angry and are looking for "safety" and "quiet". If a professional doesn't understand the "red flags of shock/trauma/crisis", they can easily misdiagnose NPD as was the case with me. Of course it did not help that this psychiatrist was from India and spoke with a heavy accent. It never even occurred to me that his cultural back ground already tends to not recognize or value women as we do here in the states. And I have found out I am only one of many who did not have a good experience with him either.

I did "not" get rest in that psych ward, they opened my door or checked on me every 15 minutes, which constantly startled me awake, keep in mind that I had already come off of almost 5 months of that non stop caring for sick animals where I often did not sleep at all and I lost one of them but still had to keep caring for the others. Plus they let my sister come in and visit me who basically yelled at me for being that way, how dare I, and that I better get my act together or I would lose everything. I was treated by everyone like I had no right to struggle the way I was struggling and I was surrounded by patients where they were all on several different medications and all messed up. I left that place even "more" exhausted than when I went in, and my husband was mean and angry towards me. Then I had to go back home and go right back to tending to these damaged/sick ponies and horses too. And experience constant night terrors, not even understanding that either.

By the time I got to see a psychologist in out patient, I struggled to articulate why I was so "grief stricken" and as I was doing that I was afraid she too would think badly of me. She too misdiagnosed me because she did not believe me when I told her the value of some of the damaged animals. Plus, I had no idea how we were even going to pay her as by that time I was in so much debt from veterinary expenses.

By the time I got to see another psychiatrist, I still had a hard time trying to explain the volume of how much I was challenged and what it meant to me. No, I was not getting much sleep, I was still hyper aware, hyper vigilant, and experiencing extreme anxiety and was experiencing night terrors, however I did not use these words then because I did not know about them. What I did know is that I was still experiencing deep grief and anger yet trying to hide it because apparently I had no right to be that way. And when they tried to give me AD's in the psych ward, I was either on my knees sick to my stomach, or the AD totally knocked me out so I could not get up and both times I was yelled at. I did not get past one or two days and told them to stop trying to push AD's at me, but to let me rest and PLEASE GIVE ME GRIEF COUNSELING.

Finally, I was diagnosed with PTSD. But it was not really explained to me, but what I thought what PTSD meant was extreme deep grief, and that is exactly how I felt. I still was exhausted, was not sleeping well, had anxiety attacks, and my family was still being impatient and mean to me and I was still taking care of damaged animals and my neighbor was still being intrusive and almost hit me with their car as I was trying to hand walk a sick pony. Can ANYONE blame me for having racing thoughts or struggling to articulate all that I was addressing STILL? How on earth does that mean I have Bipolar II?

I had no idea what a "trigger" was, it was not explained to me, but let me tell you I WAS HAVING THEM CONSTANTLY. Plus the bills were piling up on the table and I could clearly see my husband was overwhelmed by it all and I really began to worry about losing everything. The "only" medication that was helping was the Klonopin this psychiatrist prescribed for me. But I had to try to only take a very small amount during the day because otherwise I could not take care of all my horses/ponies.

I did try Welbutrin, but that drug just wound me up too much, actually it is not a good drug to prescribe for PTSD, especially not the generic of it which is a different mix and has even more side effects. My psychiatrist went away on vacation for three weeks, so I stopped taking the Welbutrin on my own, and within two days, I could notice a big difference, not so batty and wound up. The psychiatrist wanted to put me on mood stabilizers, and he talked about other medications that were new that was two different medications, and I am very glad I did not take one of the ones he mentioned as it was taken off the market.

This psychiatrist decided my GP could prescribe renewals of the Klonopin.
My GP saw my records, was clearly very angry and began to spout out
resentments about how a psychiatrist could expect him to prescribe for
such a mentally disturbed patient and he mentioned all the different diagnoses that no one mentioned to me and threw my records at me. I was so completely embarrassed and "severely triggered" and had all I could to get to my car in tears.

My whole point in sharing all of this is because I definitely was misdiagnosed and misunderstood and not enough time was spent on "listening" to get a better idea of my history so that I actually was diagnosed correctly. I never stayed up all night, did reckless things, went on shopping sprees buying things without careful thought, or any of the other manic symptoms discussed that are symptoms of Bipolar Disorder or even Bipolar II. And a narcissist doesn't give up so much time to support her husband to recover from alcoholism, work her butt off and work around helping her daughter with her dyslexia, or spend the time and money I spent on her with her riding to help her with her self esteem issues due to her dyslexia. A narcissist would never walk away from a trainer when their child is high ranking on a show circuit to be state and zone champion, to put that at risk because I did not want to "pretend" not to see the severe child neglect this trainer was doing with his children. No, the other women that stayed with him and chose to ignore it, even when I pointed it out were the ones who were narcissists including this trainer who did not care about "anyone" but himself, he didn't even care about the welfare of the horses, he broke them all just for some damn blue ribbon, no ribbon is ever worth that ever. Narcissists don't care about anyone but themselves, if anything everyone who knows me tells me I care too much and not enough about myself.

Well, I got pretty long winded here, but I just wanted to express that just because someone is supposed to be a "professional" doesn't mean they
are right when they diagnose. It is "OK" to question medications, and do research and get other opinions from other professionals. For a while the trend was "mediations are the answer", however, they are pulling back from that more and realizing that often "good therapy" is what helps the most.

A person can have a long history of abuse or living with an alcoholic or have challenges that stress them constantly and they struggle to sleep, or compensate in ways that has nothing to do with Bipolar disorder, or even
another disorder. PTSD can develop from a lot of different situations that
cause a great deal of stress in a person. IMHO, it is very important to
get an accurate history before giving a "quick" diagnoses. Struggling to articulate, or appearing to have fragmented thinking can be due to abuse or some other issues in ones past, and has nothing to do with Bipolar. Women get diagnosed with Bipolar much more then men do, but women are abused or neglected more than men are too. Women are also more emotionally complex then men are and often more sensitive and it really is important for any professional treatment provider to really take the time to "listen" to the history, be patient if the patient struggles to articulate because that may be due to a complicated history or a very stressful environment.

I don't want to come off like I am telling everyone they are misdiagnosed
either. My point is that it "can" happen, especially when someone struggles with PTSD. If one takes time to read all the symptoms PTSD presents, yes, some of these symptoms presented in an individual can
mimic other disorders. And, while different treatment providers know about PTSD, they often don't know "enough" about it to really be able to identify or understand the symptoms. It is something that a treatment provider has to see a lot too so they can see how PTSD patients behave, get emotional, struggle, can be short tempered and frustrated and how they act when triggered too.

OE