[Rebecca1]

Hi I currently have been getting treated for bipolar disorder, but am straddling the line between anxiety and bipolar with my symptoms. For example, I have periods where I am highly distractible, want to move a lot and talk out loud to myself a lot, and I also lie in bed a lot. These periods don’t last all the time, but generally coincide with busy semesters, break ups, or just waking up and having nothing to do during the day and feeling nervous about that. Has anyone on here been misdiagnosed with bipolar when it was really anxiety? Thanks heaps

[Skeezyks]

This has not happened to me. In fact I haven't ever actually been diagnosed with anything although I've been kicking around the mental health services system where I live for over 20 years. I do struggle with a lot of anxiety & always have. And one psychiatrist who saw me said she thought there might be a "bipolar element" to what was going on with me (whatever that means.) However so far as I can discern as a non-professional the misdiagnosis of anxiety for bipolar disorder is unlikely. But that's just my personal impression. Perhaps other PC members may have other thoughts on the subject or other experiences.

[The_little_didgee]

I can relate. I struggle with moderate to severe GAD.

In the past I was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, because an antidepressant made me acutely manic. My periods of severe anxiety also made it appear as if I had bipolar. I ended up taking a mood stabilizer for 18 months. I'm not sure how effective it really was. The two psychiatrists treating me thought it was helping me. They obviously observed the effects of the antidepressant and my anxiety disorder (which they failed to notice at the time).

Some days I have symptoms similar to yours. My triggers are stress and sleep deprivation. Usually I just get very irritable. Sometimes I get periods of severe agitation that requires medication. When I experience this I cannot focus on anything, and I cannot stop talking and moving. This can definitely resemble the manic phase of bipolar disorder, but it will only last until the stressful event passes, in usually about a week. I don't get euphoric or do reckless things during those times. However I require less sleep than normal and become more motivated to do things. So it can definitely be hard to differentiate between the two disorders.

I don't think I have bipolar disorder since I'm fairly stable. Plus I have gone years without taking medication and have been fine. I also never developed mania spontaneously. It has always been triggered by antidepressants.

[Albertina Geller]

There are lots of people who are misdiagnosed with wrong mental health disorders and the most common is bipolar and I have seen lots of people who have OCD and they were misdiagnosed. One of my friends was misdiagnosed with bipolar and he was given the wrong medication which was not effective and also worsened his health. So at the initial stage, it is really hard to properly diagnose a mental health condition.