I'm just after a bit of advice really as this is bothering me far more than it should.
I recently got a new psychiatrist who is unsure of my current diagnosis of bipolar and keeps mentioning that he thinks my symptoms are more in keeping with a psychotic illness. However, when I ask him what he thinks I do actually have, he keeps saying that labels aren't important and managing the symptoms is what matters.
He took me off mood stabilisers and put me on antipsychotics. However, I was on lamotirigine and that was excellent for preventing depression. Since coming off it I have become really depressed again. So, I don't know why he is unsure of whether it's bipolar.
I just want to get a straight answer out of him. A friend suggested that maybe he's not sure, but why not? He's a consultant psychiatrist and says he's seen people with my symptoms who responded very well to the antipsychotic I'm on, which is aripiprazole.
For the record, I get about 2 episodes a year where I think the goverment are testing microwave weapons on me and I'm the victim of electronic harrassment or I think that Freemasons are telepathically communicating with me and I've been innitiated into a secret society etc. It lasts for about 1 to 3 months. These don't always coincide with hypomania or depression.
I'm having a hard time accepting that it might not be bipolar and that it may be a psychotic illness. I looked up 'psychotic illesses' and they are schizoaffective disorder, schizophrenia and delusional disorder. Undertandably, I'm now really worried. Surely my last psychiatrist would have diagnosed one of these if this was the case.
Anyway, sorry for rambling, but it's just driving me mad and I feel that he needs to be clearer with his diagnosis and reasoning, as that would help me develop a better framework for understanding what is wrong. I understand his point about labels, but he must have an idea of what he suspects the diagnosis is.