The rampant misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder drives me absolutely crazy. There are a few simple questions that every therapist should always ask to help nail it down. And the reason these questions are so important is because antidepressant meds by themselves can make bipolar disorder much, much worse.

You may not be aware that there are several types of bipolar disorder and not all of them include typical "manic" episodes. The most common, Bipolar Type I, has extreme manic highs and mild-to-moderate depressive lows. My wife is Bipolar Type II, and that type has mild-to-moderate highs which show as periods of functional irritability and moodiness, and it also has extended periods of extreme depressive lows that are as bad or worse than severe clinical depression. Bipolar II is the one that's most often misdiagnosed as clinical depression.

My wife was misdiagnosed for most of her adult life and it just about killed her. Now that she's been correctly diagnosed and treated, it's like she's been reborn.

So when you consider your husband, ask yourself: is his depression constant and chronic, or does he have periods when he can function, but is irritable, angry, moody and/or irrational, before slipping back into depression again? In other words, do his depressive symptoms seem somewhat cyclical, coming in intervals? During those "up" periods, does he do things that are risky, unwise or out-of-character (i.e. his spending habits or sexual behaviours)? Do you find that antidepressants don't work the way the doctors say they should?

If you answer yes to those questions, find out more about bipolar disorder. Take PsychCentral's Bipolar screening quiz on your husband's behalf , and also read this website about Bipolar II disorder .

I can imagine how hard this is for you. Hopefully the people here on this forum can give you some small amount of support.