Personally I don’t agree that someone should just be put on a AP right off the bat.

When I was first diagnosed I started on a mood stabilizer, lithium first ...then about a month later I started Lamictal as it’s a seizure Med but often works well in the depressive end of Bipolar so it’s referred to as a mood stabilizer now also.

I did eventually need a antipsychotic(AP) Seroquil xr was the first but looking back I wish I had just started straight Seroquil first as there’s much less problems with large weight gain quickly. But this happened while I was IP So I wasn’t well enough to really make medication decisions.

My Pdoc has always been open to me and my researching of possible medications that I feel might work or at least have less side effects. We both discuss a few options and then decide together which will be tried. I can’t imagine just taking any old pill someone decided I need to take it.

I see many people getting put on more than 1 Med at a time. If there’s bad side effects it’s going to be hard to find out what causes what as everyone reacts differently.

I don’t care much about what “ Label” it is .... it’s about treating the symptoms so a person can go about enjoying there life.