AN UPDATE FROM 20 MINUTE DIAGNOSIS FROM MY MD

Lilly,

It's interesting news, but unless you talk with your doctor about it, I'd keep it as a "maybe" in your mind. A therapist is there to help you talk through your problems and concerns, and certainly he has given you a lot to think about, but you definitely need a psych's diagnosis before you jump off your meds or do anything differently.

I knew very little about the disorder, so I did a little reading up on it. You say you feel down about fitting such a self centered and manipulative bill, but do you agree with him? Do you think it fits you? Lots of bipolars are plenty manipulative too. It looks like it's still treatable with therapy and medicine for the acute effects of depression -- so not that different from bipolar (you just shouldn't have mania.) Do you have mania?

Good luck, and try not to be any harder on yourself for this than you were for bipolar. It's not in your control any more than the bipolar was. It's still something that's happening in your brain and not by choice. It doesn't make you a bad person.

serafena

Lilly, while I am new here and to all of this, the one thing that caught my eye was your opening statement.....you went to "a" therapist and he diagnosed you with HPD. So.......this is a new therapist, not one you ever saw before who really doesn't know you much at all and he feels qualified to fire off this totally different diagnosis from your other doctors after one meeting that most likely lasted less than one hour?? Either he is the world's greatest or he is playing with your mind... I would be very careful about accepting what he said after only one meeting.. If you have been seeing an other therapist or psychologist for bipolar disorder, I would believe that person over this new one....Don't jump too fast or be too hard on yourself...