I have thought that bipolar disorder was the source of all my issues for a very long time. It took me years to get BP under control. Now that I have...surprise! I may have PTSD also. My therapist has said the memory remained buried for so long because everything else was out of control. Now that I am physically safe, and mentally safe from bipolar, the memory has come to the surface to essentially kick my ***. Now I must do trauma work with my therapist while before I was focusing on coping skills for bipolar episodes and processing my first husband’s sudden death.

One psychiatrist a couple of years ago tried to throw the borderline label in our first meeting and I truly believe it was simply because I was a woman who was suicidal and had a history of self injury. How else could he even touch on that dx without knowing any of my personal history? I specifically said I was there because I had bipolar and was in a depressive episode and my previous doctor was no longer taking my insurance. So sometimes I think labels just get thrown around out of prejudice.

There is one php/IOP program near me who also decides that if you’re suicidal you must go into the DBT track, no questions asked, I do not think this is necessarily beneficial.

Anyway, my point is for me, though I may have co morbid illnesses, I can only tackle one at a time, and only one needs medication. Maybe I am lucky that way.