I'm really curious about what people think or have experienced who have a bipolar diagnosis and have reactions to meds. I had long standing depression and also PTSD. A few years ago--so decades into treatment--I had a manic episode that was triggered by overmedication, especially with anti-depressants. When the meds were removed, the mania stopped, but my shrink now thinks of me as Bipolar I and is very cautious about meds for depression, which is still very serious.

The problem is that even if this does happen to people with Bipolar, the DSM says that a mania caused by meds doesn't qualify as Bipolar I, but it is a substance induced mania instead.

I have argued with my shrink futilely about this and it always ends with me getting upset, frustrated, and angry. I still want to be able to convince him that he has made the wrong diagnosis, especially since it affects the kinds of medications he thinks are appropriate.

Bipolar I is considered severe, rare, largely genetic, and life long, while major depression is not. If I truly had Bipolar I, surely there would be more to go on than this one instance. I would have had a spontaneous manic episode. Something would have turned up before I was 50. Something would show in my family's history. I would have had other manic episodes while treated for depression. None are the case. Also since that episode, I have been on anti-depressants 3 times without any difficulties. And I have not been on any mood stabilizers or anti-psychotics for most of it. Doesn't this seem to be proof enough?