I have BP and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Did the psych diagnose you with two different disorders since he said the anxiety is separate? My pdoc has told me that some anxiety/impending doom is normal with BP, but that if you're as extreme as I am, it's a separate disorder all on its own. I don't know if that's helpful.

Honestly, I think we only scratch the surface in understanding BP and other psychological disorders, as there are many complex factors involved in their development.

What clinicians know is what we report to them, based on what we experience.

And from that information they render a diagnosis, which is what we and the practitioners have to work with.

Hopefully, this provides enough information to provide a useful diagnosis to guide treatment.

I wasn't dx'd with anxiety or anything. Just prescribed Klonophin for acute panic attacks.

I know what bipolar is for me and i clearly alway know if im manic or depressed or both or none...I alway know yes..but do i listen to myself ..not often

I understand bipolar, i don't understand how bp reacts with me, I am still trying to figure that one out. How it manifests within, how my moods alter because I never have felt the depression like I have felt being on these bp drugs.

I don't understand Bipolar at all, I only know how it affects me.

Understanding BP , is like understanding the complexity of the human mind...just when you think you have a handle on things...WHAM !

Something new....and usually worse

There is more often then not concurrent illnesses

I understand the and part BP plays in my life and a also pretty intune with how BP affects friends that have it but as a whole no I don't get it but I think possibly is because it is truly different in some aaspect for everyone

thats why I said for me..I dont no what its like for ya'll

ha, I don't understand my bipolar issues, either - not sure how many of us do.

I can tell you that my anxiety is part of my bipolar at times, and sometimes, it is separate.

Our mental health is very complex.

I agree totally with everyone! Dancing d that is so true!

If ANYONE truly "understood" bipolar disorder they would have the Nobel Prize in medicine. The good news is we are learning more and more about it every year. But essentially we are the "new pioneers" I dislike the words "guinea pigs" Our pdocs on the whole want to help us. Yes, there are those who are quacks, but really bp changes with help for most people. And no pdoc worth their salt can guarantee which way it will go. But the treatments will get better. Of course, like most beepers I have struggled with all my might with this. Been through dozens of cocktails. Right now I'm doing fairly well with the one I'm on. Just keep plugging away. I was also dx with GAD separately from Bp but sometimes my anxiety fuel the mania. It's a chicken or the egg kind of symbiotic thing. But not always.