Monday, May 12, 2008

Bipolar Overawareness Week Starts With a Bang

As I mentioned last week, Bipolar Overawareness Week begins today.  There is a little bit of media coverage about the latest study from Zimmerman et al. which found that bipolar disorder was being rampantly overdiagnosed in at least one sample.  If you missed my discussion of the study and its implications, feel free to check it out.  

Furious Seasons noted that the Providence Journal has a story in which leading psychiatry researchers Michael Thase and Gary Sachs agreed that bipolar is indeed being overdiagnosed.  I was surprised that they so quickly jumped on the Bipolar Overawareness bandwagon. Welcome aboard, gents!  I have to admit I was shocked to see that Sachs gave the study any credibility given that he recently expressed uncertainty as to whether there was overdiagnosis of bipolar in children (where the rate of bipolar diagnosis has increased much faster than in adults) and has previously written about the underdiagnosis of bipolar disorder in adults.

National Public Radio also has a brief audio bit on the story.  

Philip Dawdy also chronicles his own experience of being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a diagnosis that from his account seems questionable at best.  A very interesting story.

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