WebMD Medical News Louise Chang, MD May 6, 2008 (Washington) --
Many people who have been told by their doctors that they have
bipolar disorder don't really have it. So say researchers who
used a standardized, comprehensive, psychiatric diagnostic
interview to evaluate 700 adult psychiatric outpatients. About
20% had previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder. But
only 13% met the criteria, says Mark Zimmerman, MD, associate
professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert
Medical School of Brown University in Providence and practicing
psychiatrist at Rhode Island Hospital in Providence. "In about
half of patients previously diagnosed with bipolar disorder, we
couldn't confirm the diagnosis," he tells WebMD. There are real
dangers to overdiagnosis, chief among them unnecessary exposure
to mood stabilizers and all their powerful side effects,
Zimmerman says. There's also the stigmatization of having a
serious, possibly lifelong mental illness. The study is being
published online by the Jour