My experience...

After a bad car accident and all the stresses that came after it, Dr. bills, surgery, etc. I was feeling depressed. I'd never felt like this before. I was dealing with a lot of new things. I went to someone to talk it out. I was working a late night shift so when I went to my appointment with the therapist I had two cups of coffee & two Mt Dews. I explained I was totally wired and shaky on all that caffenine. The therapist, who met with me for less than 20 mins, ask me if I had extreme highs and lows, I told her, "No, nothing out of the ordinary". Never asking for any additional info. Because I was so nervous and high on caffenine my hands were shaky and my voice plus I am a normal fast talker. I've been compared to a fast talking New Yorker-No offense meant to anyone. Which is normal for me. When I get nervous I always get shaky because I get sooo nervous. It's the reason I've never been a waitress, I'd probably spill your food on you-LOL. She took this as being Manic Depressive and immediately wanted to put me on Lithium. I was shocked! Floored! And really upset with her. I left feeling she hadn't taken any time to really get to know me. She was making a diagnosis based on caffenine! After meeting with her I was scheduled to see the psychiatrist and it was the same thing. He watched his clock the entire time. I kept following his eyes. He didn't try to get to know me. He only told me what 'she' thought. He was ready to give me a prescription. I was so upset. I told him that in no way, shape, or form was I going to began messing with my brain function with drugs of any sort when neither of them took the time to talk to me about why I was even there. And that they were basing their so-called diagnosis is based on caffenine. I never went back to a psychiatrist.
I'm telling this story to tell people to be careful. They only wanted my insurance money. They weren't at all concerned with my well-being. It's sad.
God Bless

Hi, if you are still having a hard time i would keep on looking for the right therapist. I agree with you though, too many docs are just out for the money and don't care. At first I was diagnosed with severe depression and anxiety by my GP, then I was diagnosed by a therapist as borderline personality disorder and anxiety and finally found a psych doc who diagnosed me with bp2 and generalized anxiety disorder--I was not telling him all of what was going on and whenI finally had an 'acute manic episode' did I actually tell him the truth I Graduated to bp1. Even though I already started treatment I continued to do research and get all the info. I could get. I had to come to the idea that he actually cared about his profession and his patients. He on several occations never charged me for visits, knowing money was tight. I finally found that I could trust him and that is a big part of 'getting better'. Good luck to you-Jen

Thanks Jen! I appreciate you responding to me. I am going to try and find someone. I'm in a small town and want to find someone that's not that close to home..people are soooo nosey here and gossip a lot.

I have experienced the same things with many doctors. The therapist I have now seems ok but the meds doc I went to (is new) this week was not concerned with helping me at all I felt as if I was being rushed through the appt. so he could get all the patients he had done with. IDK about a lot of these doctors and I agree with you it seems more times than not they just want the money and are truly not concerned with their patients. I hope and pray you have better luck and soon you deserve to be happy and healthy like we all do. Unfortunately some of us got stuck with something we have no control over.

pm me anytime
I go by hopes

"he watched his clock the whole time"

He watched his clock because he is not interested in therapying you or your permanent recovery, his job is to get you pharmaceutical drugs of some kind.

It is obscene how callously health care pros hand out a mental health Dx of bipolar these days.

In the old days, at least when I was Dxd with bipolar, it was after weeks of inpatient and it was a consensus diagnoses based on the observations and opinions of several mental health pros.

Nobody should receive any mental health dx in the first outpatient visit. They simply can not know enough, and have performed enough tests and reviewed all your history to make a clinical Dx in an out patient setting. That is so irresponsible.

You had an car accident that required surgery. Your body and mind was shocked during the accident, and then violated again with surgery. You need to heal your body fully. The trauma of both the accident and the surgery leaves echos in your flesh, in your soft tissues and your nerves. A therapist or a pill can not do that for you. It's no wonder you have depression, your body is telling you to stay slow and go easy to repair itself, and that depression is your bodies personal communication to you that you need to be gentle to yourself. Being hurt and in pain for long periods is exhausting and frustrating but it does not mean you have a mental illness.

In terms of physical therapies that will have a positive and healing effect on your mind as well as your body.

If money is no object, you should try Rolfing, Alexander Technique and or Feldenkrais Method.

In addition you may want to see an acupuncturist or a qi gong practitioner who will teach you how to mobilize the soft tissue in your body and strengthen your nervous system.

Your best bet there would be to learn chi gung from people experienced dealing with deep tissue trauma.

If you have limited funds like I did after my accident, learn tai chi, it will not only gently get all your parts moving again, but in the process you may spontaneously dissolve any triggers you might have picked up from the aftermath of the accident. At the very least it gives you a tool to go inside and manage your body, mind and feelings. If you learn tai chi from a reputable teacher, then your practice will help you heal your entire being from your trauma. If tai chi is too involving for your schedule, A simple chi gung set then, would be the answer.

Your recovery is on your hands and it's up to you to see it through. In a world where it may be hard to find a genuine healer and not just someone eager to over Dx bipolar or push another Rx.

Self therapy and self healing techniques are invaluable as you will be able to turn to them again and again in the future.

If I were you I would consider yourself extremely fortunate if you find a therapist or psychiatrist who is focused on genuine healing and permanent recovery from mental health issues.

In my personal experience, most mental health care pros are people that hand out labels push drugs and try to convince you that you are powerless over your mind,body and moods. That is not healing at all, nor is it true.

Good on you for sticking to your guns and refusing meds. That stuff just keeps you sick.

best wishes,
Jane