Misdiagnoses

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How many of us ever got misdiagnosed by a psych? I start:

Had a problem with: autistic burnout, overstimulation, social phobia, depression
Got diagnosed with: schizophrenia
Effect: I was made a vegetable with high doses of antypsychotics while the actual issues remained untreated. Suffered even more. Whatever I said to contradict the diagnosis was interpreted as delusions.
Way out: Found a different psychiatrist and discussed all my doubts with someone not as heavily biased.

Diagnosis: My bite-off-more-than-I-can-chew <-> burn-out cycle was taken to be bipolar in my late teens. Burn-outs were seen purely as depressive periods, even when I felt none of the emotional effects of depression. My excessive cogitation and anxiety stimming were seen as mild mania, though I don't believe I have ever truly experienced manic episodes. Anxiety from social impairments was attributed to Generalised Anxiety Disorder as if my reported difficulties were figments of negative thinking. And my favourite - an Occupational Health assessment by a former employer where I was told that I had "Jesus Syndrome" (I presume they meant a "Messiah Complex", but even that isn't a recognised condition and in no way matches my traits - it's also very ironic as I have always been agnostic!)

Effect: Having a "known diagnosis" delayed access to subsequent psychological assessments for nearly three decades, hence no chance of actually getting to the bottom of the problem. Several spells of inappropriately handled CBT actually reinforced my self-esteem problems and prolonged burn-out periods. Standard treatments for bipolar were totally ineffective and were simply dropped without any alternative being explored. Upward spiralling anti-depressant dosages made life harder by sedating me to the point that I could no longer mask (at this point I assumed that masking was unconditionally necessary. I didn't even realise I was doing it most of the time; it was just "normal".)

Way Out: A very fortunate chain of events. At (yet another) referral for depression treatment, I saw a psychologist who knew autism well enough to see behind my mask and suggested the possibility to me. I mentioned this to the new CBT counsellor that I was assigned, who then arranged a case swap with a colleague who had worked previously with autistic people (autism wasn't part of her job formally, but she did understand it very well, and it restored my faith in CBT.) This counsellor then supported me to convince my GP to request a formal assessment, which was refused twice due to lack of funding to attend an expensive private clinic, which was the only one available at the time. On the third attempt, a new publicly funded assessment centre had been opened nearby, and I finally got to be assessed. The people who did my assessment were astonished that, given the extent of my autistic traits, I had never been flagged up over the previous 30 years - I was far from being the "borderline case" that I imagined I must be, just damned good at masking (and incredibly exhausted!)

When I was officially tested for autism I was told I didn't have autism & had Schizoid Personality Disorder instead. He said I had Aspergers but it was due to the SPD instead of anything on the autism spectrum. The effect was it prevented me from qualifying for services related to developmental disabilities.

I might could think of some other misdiagnoses later on.

My father was diagnosed Bipolar and throughout most of my adult life people have been trying to convince me that , because it's hereditary , I must be too . While this is not a misdiagnosis , having many people project a diagnosis on you can be equally troubling . I did see a therapist for years and it was determined that I was not bipolar . What it was however , is undiagnosed Autism which can easily present as Bipolar .

I was evaluated a few times by different professionals and one of them insisted I have Schizoid Personality Disorder. I have also had people suggest Schizoaffective Disorder and Bipolar disorder. At this point, I don't even know what I have because I have heard so many things.

I was misdiagnosed as hyperactive. I was an active, energetic person when I was a little girl, but I didn't have trouble with focus and concentration.

I voted other because I was diagnosed with anxiety and OCD along with Asperger's. His diagnoses was based on my mother's interpretation of me and the fact I refused to even talk about myself because I was in so much of denial about my problems and wanted to be normal. If I had spoken up about myself and talked about my own behaviors and problems in life, that might have helped him out. But I was 12 then and knew nothing about myself and what wasn't normal. And I didn't know why I was seeing him. The last thing I would have wanted then was being told I was abnormal and I had something wrong with me. But his diagnoses of me didn't really harm me. I do know OCD treatment was ineffective and the anti anxiety pills helped, it just helped me cope better in stressful situations and helped me have better control of myself. But reading my medical records, it sounded like to me he was at lost at what to diagnose me with so he gave me all three diagnoses because I seemed to fit all three and he just didn't know what was what because they were all the same in me. That was why I have always seen OCD in autism and anxiety because of my own experience and they all look the same.

Oppositional Defiance Disorder, which is a b.s. diagnosis as from what I can determine, if you don't behave in a certain manner,( but your behavior is NOT criminal), that society deems normal than you are choosing to be defiant. No one ever asked me if I was trying to be defiant.

My parents were told/suggested i had that 1ce by some so-called professional; I think that person worked with the skewl to provide accommodations or help & assistance to students with issues. The thing is that I was NEVER trying to rebel to cause a problem or anything like that. My various mental & physical issues/disabilities were not understood by anyone including my parents. Me acting up & my so-called rebelling was due to me not getting my various needs met, me being bullied, & some if it was due to my Aspie meltdowns which I couldn't really help. My parents had suspected me of being on the spectrum since I was a toddler but my family doc just laughed & said, "Nick's just being Nick" & noone else believed I had it because where I'm from even the so-called experts think of autism as something like a less sever form of mental retardation so my parents didn't really have any resources or assistance or help available. Not knowing what your doing with raising an autistic kid who has other mental & physical issues & is in an environment where he/she is getting bullied regularly can cause behavior that seems like rebelling by ignorant folks.

Me too, ODD as an adolescent and bipolar as a child, I think I just have an aversion to being manipulated. I never had a problem with anyone other than my over controlling parents. I usually shut down during therapy, so I didn't participate. The bad part of the misdiagnosis was that I actually thought I was just a bad oppositional kid for a long time.

I was misdiagnosed as having borderline personality disorder when I actually should have gotten an autism diagnosis.

I can't say I've been misdiagnosed, I can say I've noticed that psychiatrists can get it wrong in concerns that may lead me to believe that I was misdiagnosed at some point. Though so far, I haven't seen anything that suggests so even though I think it possible.

I had a hypomanic episode when I first went on ziprasidone (Geodon/Zeldox) That lasted three weeks. It was great because it was over Christmas and normally I hate Christmas. That time I enjoyed Christmas shopping and I spent a lot of money. I also got heaps done around the house, cleaning and painting.

Then one day I woke up and it was gone. I was my regular depressive self again. That's the only time I've ever had an episode like that. I told my psychiatrist about it and he diagnosed me with Bipolar Disorder. I think it was due to the medication as it has been known to happen.