When I was first diagnosed about 15 or 16 years ago, the psychiatrist said I had "manic depression". At that precise time, I didn't know what that (or bipolar disorder) even was. I was quite hypomanic, at the least, and when he said he wanted to change my medications, I told him I was not interested. He gave me a pamphlet about bipolar disorder and then I left, not returning for almost a year.

In my case, it wasn't the diagnosis that changed my plans, it was the disorder itself. I only started to believe the diagnosis during my first psych hospitalization after some horrible situations that occurred, including having six fellow employees go to Human Resources to report on my behavior. I was then given an ultimatum. The psych hospitalization resulted after I quit the job that day.