Where do I go to find out if I am bipolar?!

Best Answer - Chosen by Voters

to a mental health place

You realize that bipolar simply means moody? It's one of those things that is easily overdiagnosed. If your mood swings are causing you to be so unreliable you can't work, do schoolwork, sustain relationships, or perhaps even stay within the law, then obviously your moodiness will need to be addressed. You can call a psychiatrist (who prescribes meds) or a therapist (who helps give you insight into yourself) and ask her/him if s/he would give you a diagnosis. Therapy is the place to start if you're bipolar.

You can go to a physiologist. They can help with your problem but will most likely will refer to a psychiatrist to put you on drugs like most of America. Good luck.

You need to be diagnosed by a psychiatrist. That is a doctor who specializes in mental illnesses.

To The Google-Mobil!

the trouble is that the criteria for bipolar have been softened so much, that almost everyone can get a bipolar diagnosis, and be put on powerful, toxic drugs that can shave years off your life. the drugs don't even work that well - they are not going to make you all happy.

anyway, for mania, are you going weeks to months with vastly different sleep needs? In mania, a person will only need say 2 hours of sleep a night, for weeks to months. if hypomania, maybe 4 hours. and i don't mean insomnia or burning the candle on both ends, I mean, you sleep 2 hours, and you are ready to SPRING out of bed to compose another song for the piano, or get that room remodeled, or start your new business scheme. etc. to some kind of obsessive degree. If this isn't happening, it's not bipolar.

the drug companies are trying to expand the diagnosis because they want to sell more antipsychotics, which are the drugs that are going to kill you. antipsychotics cause massive weight gain, diabetes, heart attacks due to heartbeat abnormalities, increase risk of heatstroke, shrink the size of your brain over time, will raise your cholesterol and triglycerides, etc. etc. and they have become mainstream treatment now. many psychiatrists are upset about this because the drugs are so harmful, but drug company marketing for abilify, seroquel, zyprexa etc. has been super effective, and the drug companies pay off the academic psychiatrists to write articles in the journals saying their drugs work well.

I have bipolar, and I am so sorry that I ever got treatment for it. I believe the treatment is what disabled me, and my brother believes this also, for his case. I was a geophysics PhD student when prozac wrecked me, and he was a machinist. the so-called mood stabilizers were a disaster - all the meds were. the doctors don't hear about patients like me because we give up but i am on private insurance company disability so I must stay under the care of a doctor. so I just see her now and don't take pills. anyway, read some of my old questions from a year ago to see what the drugs were doing to me - it was holy hell. I am doing much better off the meds, and those meds very nearly killed me by forcing me to suicide, probably due to akathisia (intense internal agitation).

good luck. i really recommend you get therapy, and skip the medications. they won't fix you - they are not happy pills.