even if you do have the disorder, there's a culture in mental health that can teach helplessness. I do think that bipolar exists but I don't think every person is correctly diagnosed. I also don't think short-term depression/grief should be medicated, but that is too.

I think it's really easy to read a list of symptoms and then believe you have them. You can focus on those moments and then the frequency of those things happen more because you're seeking it. I was misdiagnosed. I react poorly to anti-depressants, read a list of bipolar symptoms and since I experienced some of them sometimes was reporting those things more frequently. I think that part of people declining so much after getting the dx can be related to learned helplessness. Then there's also being put on tons of meds at once and not slowly introducing them. It's damn near impossible to know if you're experiencing a side effect or the mood disorder.

When all the antipsychotics were made, they were not meant to be taken on a long-term basis and not originally made to be maintenance drugs.

I think that's why it is really important to bring questions and demand explanations from your prescribing doctor. They are supposed to explain why they are prescribing a drug and should be able to hypothesize what symptom or whatver that they're trying to improve.

And on the patient it's super important to tell your doctor if you're a struggler with compliance.

I'm not anti medication. Just think that medication is over prescribed.

Myself I just like coming and visiting every few months. I used to be super active here for a year-two. It helped a lot to get feedback. I think innerzones post is very good.