Session 176: Exploring Bipolar Disorders

Published Oct 7, 2020, 7:00 AM
Bipolar disorders are among the most commonly misunderstood disorders when it comes to mental illness. There is still a lot of confusion about how this disorder presents and it’s also very often misdiagnosed. Psychiatrist Dr. Valdesha DeJean joins us to talk about the symptoms of Bipolar I and Bipolar II disorder, some of the treatment options typically suggested, the concerns related to creativity and medication, how to support a family member who’s been diagnosed, and she answers some community questi

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support for today's podcast comes from Curology. As I've gotten older, I've become more invested in doing the best I can to take great care of my skin, but I've often felt overwhelmed by where to start. Thankfully, I found Curology. Whether you're trying to take control of acne, fine lines, dark spots, occasional breakouts, or clogged pores, Curology will customize a prescription formula with three active ingredients pick just for you to tackle your skincare needs. The formula that was customized for me is to help minimize fine lines and dark spots. To get your treatment plan, you start by answering questions online about your skin and sending in a couple of selfies. Next, they match you with a licensed dermatology provider who gets to know your skin and if it's a good fit, you'll get a customized prescription cream to address your unique skin concerns. Then Curology sets you up with a personalized treatment plan and ships your custom formula right to your door. The whole process was pretty easy to complete, and the products arrived to my home in only a few days. I've been using the formula for a few weeks now and have already noticed some fading of a few dark spots. I love that the products aren't complicated. There's a cleanser, your formula and then a moisturizer, so it doesn't feel too complicated, and there's no strong smell, which is my preference in skin care products. So if you've been searching for a solution to your skin concerns, cure Ology may be just the thing for you. For your free thirty day trial, go to cure ology dot com slash tv G and you only pay for shipping and handling. That s you are O L O G Y dot com slash tv g to unlock your free thirty day trial. Support for today's podcast also comes from Cricket Wireless. Are you looking for a way to end summer on a high note? They've got the thing. Get ready for unlimited smiles, unlimited times. For get four lines of unlimited data for a hundred dollars a month. Please note that Cricket Core is required on four lines. Data spe limited to three megabits per second. Cricket may slow data speeds when the network is busy. Additional fees, usage and restrictions apply. Now, let's get into the show. Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, Dr joy hard and Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at Therapy for Black Girls dot com. While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session one seventies six of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. Bipolar disorders are among the most commonly misunderstood disorders when it comes to mental illness. There's still a lot of confusion about how this disorder presents, and it's also often misdiagnosed. So we wanted to take some time to clear up some of the confusion and provide you with some accurate information about what a bipolar disorder can look like. For this conversation, I was joined by yet another Xavier, right, Dr Valdisia de Jon, Dr Dejon received her medical degree from a Hairy Medical college. She completed her psychiatry residency training at Baylor College of Benison's Manager Department of Psychiatry, where she served as the first black female Chief resident of the General Residency Training program. She has also been recognized as a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association. She's recently returned to her hometown of Atlanta and is currently working in private practice at the Georgia Psychological Treatment Center. Dr de john and I talked about the symptoms of both bipolar one and bipolar to disorder, some of the treatment options typically suggested, the concerns related to creativity and medication, how to support a family member who's been diagnosed, and she answered some community questions from some of you. If there's something that resonates with you while listening, please be sure to share with us on social media using the hashtag TBG in Session. Here's our conversation. Thank you so much for joining us today, Dr Dejoon, Thank you so much for having me. Always excited to connect with the another fellow Xavier right. So you probably are the fourth or film Xavier right we've had on the podcast. Oh that's awesome. Yeah, And of course there has been lots in the media recently about bipolar disorder. We talked about bipolar disorder on the podcast before, but really wanted to have you joined us today to really expound on that conversation. So can you start by telling us a little bit about the different types of bipolar disorders. Sure? So, there are two types of bipolar disorder. There the main types, and then there are some that are related to medical conditions. But when we talk about in the community, most people are referring to either bipolar one disorder or bipolar to disorder, and in general, what bipolar disorder is this is a type of mood disorder that is characterized by two different types of smooth states that you can be in at a single point in time, one being severely depressed mood, the other being a manic episode. And with both moods states they can last four days or more for mania and with the depression two weeks and more so. Starting with depression, when you're in that mood state that usually involves problems with sleep, extreme fatigue, not feeling motivated, not feeling like you want to engage socially, you may not find pleasure and activities as much. Your thoughts may be more morbid. You may even have suicidal thinking, and sometimes you have concentration difficulties or memory problems. And then when you're in a manic phase or episode, that usually involves if you can imagine the opposite of depression, so you would have an extreme elation in your mood, extream elevation of mood to the point of euphoria, and so it seems excessively happy associated with increased energy. And when people are in this episode, they tend to feel extremely excited and confident there and self esteem gets really inflated. And when it's in the severe range, they can even get to the point where they're grandiose and they're thinking and it could even get to the point of boarding un delusional. So, for an example, one patient I had once had thoughts that he or she was famous, or may have thoughts that they might be married to someone famous, or if they may think they have special gifts or powers. During these periods, they can go days without sleep, or sometimes they may just sleep for two to three hours and wake up the next day extremely energized. Their mind is racing full of thoughts that we call it flight of ideas technically as the term for that. But the mind becomes extremely creative to the point that their speech becomes very rapid, and they're very talkative, sometimes to the point where you can't even comprehend and what they're saying. At times. They're also very distractable in these episodes, and they began to engage in a lot of projects. They can stay up all night painting, for an example, and they can become impulsive to the point where it can be impairing to their relationships. Some people will spend excessive amounts of money to the point that they've compromised their financial integrity. And other people may even have hyper sexuality where they become more flirtatious or they involved in sexual activity that's outside of their character to be involved in. So sometimes you may even see people have extramarital affairs during a manic episode when that's not necessarily something that they would do. And so that's bipolar one. This already you're describing there, So that's usually bipolar one. The difference between bipolar one and bipolar to disorder is usually the duration of the symptoms. Whereas been bipolar one, those symptoms can last for one week. In bipolar to the sort of they tend to last about four days or more. But that's the average. And the difference between bipolar one and two specifically is the severity and intensity of those symptoms in terms of the manic symptoms. So with bipolar one disorder, we have manic episodes. With bipolar two disorder, we have hypo manic episodes. So they're less intense. They don't tend to cause as much problems in their social relationships or cause as much impairment there, or cause as much impairment in the occupational setting in their workplace, and that doesn't require hospitalization and bipolar two as it would in bipolar one disorder. So and bipolar one disorder could be so severe that someone may be so delusional, they may even become psychotic, that they will require stabilization in the hospital setting. Sometimes bipolar two disorder, others may not even notice this change because it can seem so So the severity intensity is the major difference between the two. Got it okay? And Dr de John, can you talk to us also about like how someone might know that they're struggling, Like when somebody is maybe on the brink of maybe being diagnosed, like what might be some of the first symptoms that they might experience, great question. The first early warning sign that most people tend to experience is a decreased need for sleep. And I want to make sure that I make a distinction. It's not insomnia. Sometimes people think, oh, I have bipolar disorder because I can't sleep. It's not insomnia because within sounder you want to get to sleep. But with bi polar disorder, you have a decreased need for sleep. So that's usually an early warning signal. Associate with extreme changes in food, so you can become extremely euphoric and extremely energized if you know, that's not your typical way of experiencing emotion and feeling states. So that is a sign that something has changed for you. And I must also add that sometimes with by quoltage, are you not extremely you for it? You may also be extremely irritable, So that is also a sign if there's an extreme change in mood that's outside of character. Those are the warning signs you want to look for early on. And I know, at least in my experience, sometimes what will happened is that other people are the ones who start to notice this change in you before you even recognize it in yourself. That is so true and a very good point to make, because a lot of times patients may not have insight into their illness, and some people don't even remember the illness or the episodes when they're in it in that moment. So a lot of times we do rely on people who love us to share the information and to get patients aware that something has shifted. So at least in my experience, is often other people who are aware that somebody might be struggling with these symptoms before they even become aware. That is so true. A lot of times patients were bipolar disorder may not have insight when they're actually going through the episode, so we oftentimes do rely on family to give input to the patient about the symptoms, and sometimes they don't even remember the episodes after the episodes have occurred, So that's a struggle at times, especially if they don't have insight. But we do rely on family to help identify those early warning signs and what are some of the common treatments for a bipolar disorder, especially given the fact that the collection of symptoms it seems like could look so different from person to person. Yes. So typically with bipolar disorder, the first line of treatment is to start a mood stabilizer and the examples of this that people may have heard of maybe like lamental or liptium or depicode, those are common ones that are prescribed in the community. Sometimes you will need to add an antipsychotic medicine to the regimen to help stabilize the mood. And some people may say, and why are they giving me this medicine for psychotic symtims when I'm not psychota, I don't have schizophrenic But we are learning now that that medication can help also because it has mood stabilizing effects. And it's really important for diagnosis to be accurate because there's a different protocol of treatment for bipolar disorder as opposed to major depressive disorder. And with bipolar disorder, if you are in the depressed phase of the treatment, you can sometimes get antidepressants, but it's important not to be on an antidepression without a mood stabilizers are part of the regiment because antidepressants by itself can actually put the patient at risk for another mannate episode. It can actually precipitate it. So That's why it's important for diagnosis to make that distinction, because we don't want people on an antidepressant if they actually have a diagnosis bipolar disorder and put them at risk of another manic episode. R. Can you say more about that antidepressed and precipitating another manic episode, Like, what's the mechanics there? So, yes, we don't know fully the whole cause a biolos sort of. There are a lot of theories out there, but we know that there are some changes in the neurotransmitters that can cause bipolar disorder. And what we do know is that if there is too much serotonin in the body, and that's what antidepressants increase, many of them, right, So they increased serotonin, so that surge of serotonin is likely to increase the risk of a manic episode. It makes sense a little bit when you think about it, because serotonis to make us happy, so too much of that happiness can put on or precipitate the maniam gout. It Okay, that makes sense. That does make sense. And so you said that you would likely start with the mood stabilizer and sometimes add an antipsychotic. Is this like a long term kind of thing where you would likely be on both of them for like a on time or what is the typical course of treatment, So that is really dependent on the severity. It is a biological illness, So just as diabetes and high blood pressure, you want to make sure you keep the illness in remission because it has relapsing and remitting phases. So particularly for patients who have a lot of cycling in and out of the depression and the mania, we want to make sure those patients stay on medication long term because we don't want them to have impairment in their lives. We want them to be able to work and function socially. There are rare cases in which patients who maybe they don't have a lot of manic episodes, so they don't have a lot of depression. Maybe the last one was the episode of depression remaining was twenty years ago. For those patients, sometimes they really don't want to be on medicine, and so I try to honor respect people's autonomy as much as we can and just talk about that and what I usually will say, well, let's do some long terms the therapy. Make sure you have some good coping skills and resilience there and if you do, let's come to an agreement together. If you do have another episode without this medicine, then net's agree that if you continue to have more, we need to talk about long term options that you would take indefinitely. I also want to make a point that if someone is acutely in a manic episode, the treatment is going to be a little bit different than just preventative and stabilization. So if you're acutely in a manic episode, the first thing we're gonna go to is an anti psychotic medication because that is the first line treatment for acute mania. Okay, so you wouldn't even start with the mood stabilizer. Then you would start first with the anti psychotic. You would start first with the antischada. A lot of times the mood stabilize maybe added on in conjunction with it at the same time or later on. But yes, the first thing we're gonna reach for for starting is the uh anti psycho it because that is the treatment for acute mania. But a lot of times we are adding the mood stabilizer at the same time. It just depends on the psychiatrists and the way they think about the treatment. M hmmm. And I know you know a lot of times when we're talking about working with clients who have been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder, it really is like a team approach and like a lot of wraparound services. So can you talk about some of those other things in terms of like lifestyle changes and other supporting factors that you might talk with with a client who is diagnosed with a bipolar disorder? Right? I love that. I love thinking about it from a biopsychosocial model, so meaning we're thinking about the biology of the medicines through medications, we're thinking about the psychological person involved. So we're thinking about how do we think about the way you see life, the way you view things, the way you view your illness, and so we address that with psychotherapy, and then thinking about social supports. So who can we get involved to help garner support for you at all times, Who are your closest friends that you feel comfortable talking to, Who are your family members who you can rely on that you trust to help you, and making sure that those people are involved in the treatment because they can help find the early warning signs. Sometimes patients who have more severe bipolar disorder, we will put them in teams called the act team. So certain cities have that where there's a team involving a social worker, psychiatrist, a case manager that they sometimes even come to the homes of the individuals to check on them periodically. So it really depends on the severity of the illness. But those are the type of supports we want. We want to rally the support around them to make them as most successful as possible. So, kind of going back to the medication piece, I know that for a lot of times, Uman, maybe you can speak to the prevalence of this. It seems like people who are like excel creatively right will offer and have a diagnosis of a bipolar disorder. And so sometimes when they meet with a psychiatrist and talk about medication and they start medication, they talk about their creativity being gone or they feel dull in some ways. Can you talk a little bit about that, and then how as a psychiatrist you work with them too, maybe you know mediate some of those side effects. Yes, I will say I don't hear a lot about that, but I hear enough to have to address it at times. A lot of times I would say that peace about the creativity can be dependent on the dosage of medication. So sometimes maybe the dosages if a patients coming to me on a regiment, maybe a little bit higher than necessary, so we will try to lower the dosage and see if that will help with them feeling a little bit more creative. But for some people, I will say, there are people who just say, this is just not working for me. Sometimes you can change the mood stabilizer from one to another to see if that will help, and then there are people ultimately like it. No, I just want my creativity. When we get into that, that's when I move into the psychotherapy or pharmacal therapy of speaking with the individuals. So we then explore, okay, let's look at this. Let's have a risk benefit analysis right now, when you are most creative and I get that, you value that, and I normalize that and empathize with that patient. When you're creative and you're manic, because you're at risk of creative and you're not functioning as well because you're in a manic episode, what does your life look like. Is it impaired socially? How are those relationships at that time? Are you able to work? Because we don't want to value creativity at the expense of impairment. So if they say, yes, everything is good when I'm creative, well then we'll have to kind of check and see if that's a distorted way of thinking. So sometimes it's about let's grieve a little bit of the loss of that creativity so that we can have have more functionality in your life. So we really take a look at this. And also another point is that you know, when you in a manic episode, you are so creative. Your mind is beyond creative. It's productive, and it feels elating and exciting for a lot of people. So of course when you're in a normal phase or when you're maybe medicated, you're going to feel more muted, but it still could be at the same level of someone who's naturally artistic and who doesn't have the diagnosis. We have to make sure that we're not over estimating, you know, or underestimating the creativity when you are well m m m m yeah, because I wonder if that could be something that potentially happens, is that people think that their creativity only comes when they're manic, as opposed to like, no, you can also acts as this when you're not having a manic episode. Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, So Dr de Gene, you talked a little bit about making sure that the diagnosis is correct, especially when we're talking about starting medications. What are some of them may be misdiagnosis you've seen, Like, what are some of the things that people think maybe might be bipolar and it's not our people diagnosing with something else and it actually is a bipolar disorder. Oh, that's such a great question because this is a problem of misdiagnosis. It's not always easy to diagnose because sometimes people don't see those symptoms in themselves, as you mentioned earlier, right, maybe the family members sees it. So there are four main common misdiagnosis. I tend to see Sometimes patients actually have borderline personality disorder and it is misdiagnosis a bipolar disorder. And I think the reason why this happens is people with borderline personality disorder tend to have a lot of mood swings, and I think some clinicies they hear mood swings and they're ready to diagnose bipolar disorder. But it's important to take this information into context with borderline personnel alogy disorder, the move swings can vary and range from one hour to a day, and usually someone gets back into a normal move state for themselves, what we call euthymia. So moo swings tend to fluctuate within a day or hours with borderline personality disorder. However, with h APOLOG disorder, the moves are sustained episodic periods of changes. So the manic episode will last seven days or more and it's usually followed by a crash into the depression, which will be two weeks or more. So that is the main distinction that needs to be made with borderline personality disorder, and they can also be impulsive patients with borderline personality disorder, but the impulsivity is usually related to an intense emotional response to some type of situational trigger in their environment that's upset them or some type of interaction. Another common misdiagnosed is PTSD or post traumatic stress disorder. You can also have mood swings because of post traumatic stress disorder, and that's usually because something has reminded you of past trauma and has triggered an emotional response, and emotional disregulation is a part of that illness as well. A d h D is also commonly misdiagnosed for bipolar disorder, and that's because patients tend to be more impulsive who have a d h D, and they may be hyperactive. But again it's important to look at if the changes are episodic in nature. Most of the time, people with a d h D, they're hyperactive most of the day until they go to sleep, and they can be distractable, but this is not episodic in nature. It's just a part of the construct of their everyday functioning. And then substance induced mood disorders can also look like bipolar disorders. So if someone's using cocaine or amphetamines are upper drugs that really elevate the mood, they could very much look like they're in a manic episodes. That's another common misdiagnosis. Yeah, so it really is incumbent upon the therapist of the psychiatrist whoever is kind of getting this intake information to make sure that they are grounding the symptoms in context of everything else happening in the person's life. Absolutely, and sometimes you do have to rely on family members to give some interview details so that you know exactly what you're dealing with. If the patient doesn't remember it as well. When you were talking about like some of the common misdiagnosis you talked about, borderline personality disorder. You've talked about schizophrenia earlier, and those, in addition to bipolar disorders, seems to be the mental health diagnoses that people really struggle with, just in terms of like the general population. Right, So, I think most people kind of understand what happens with the president of anxiety. It feels like there tends to be at least some empathy towards people who may be a struggle with depression and anxiety. And for some reason, it seems as though people who may be struggled with a bipolar disorder or borderline personality disorder, like those diagnoses don't corner the same sympathy from people, and so we tend to get a lot of really harsh language, a lot of you know, like look at the damage they've done in people's lives, like that kind of thing. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about how we can maybe take some steps to better educate or to really you know, get rid of some of that stigma related to these kinds of diagnoses. Right, Oh, that's so important to think about. You know, one of the things about stigma that I've learned over these years is that it's not just about fear for some people, because the fear generates helplessness. Right, So I don't know what to do with this, I'm afraid. I don't know how to help this person who it's easier to dismiss it or to just push that person aside. You know, stigmas based on fears, also based on lack of knowledge. But there's a huge piece to this that stigmas based on denial of vulnerability, of your own vulnerability. And really, I've seen the most well adjusted people develop schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. You would never imagine that this person will end up in this situation. And the truth of the matter is there's a risk percentage even in the population. So if we could really acknowledge our own vulnerability, then that could translate to more empathy for other people. Look at this pandemic how it's changing us. Now of Americans after this pandemic is going to end up with a mental health diagnosis. So if you could say, you know, if I have been in that set of circumstances in person's life, or I had that family history and really putting yourself in their position, you have more compassion for that person. But there are other things that also generate stigma. I think we have to look about the language we use, as you mentioned, in our culture and our family and our churches, how we think about these things. How do we be inclusive because a lot of times the diagnosis is demonized is something that spiritual rather than understanding it in truth to be a biological illness. Sometimes people are said, don't take medicine, so then you're more at risk of the expression of the illness. We're told that we should be good Christians or that you should be strong enough to pray away. So we have to think about the narrative and change that paradigm and the core belief systems to make sure they're accurate and they reflect compassion and empathy. Another thing is we need to speak up more when we are suffering, even if it's just depression and it's not my poem disorder. We need to normalize that for patients so that they can feel more comfortable opening up. We need to stop coding with stigma and the silence that we have so many times and it's interesting and a lot of my patients I find out that there are other people that have by polar disorder in their family until they get sick, and then they find out Aunt Susie, Uncle Joe, headed and all these other people, and it was just everyone hit it. But when it came out, it, you know, make the patients feel better. So we need to be transparent, We need to be authentic so that we can help normalize this and not see it as something bad. It's just a part of your experience. It doesn't define who you are, and changing that narrative. And I'm thankful to the public figures and the famous people who have come out to speak out about mental illness. We saw that even Michelle Obama spoke out recently about being depressed. Those actions of people who are leaders in our community help us get closer to destigmatizing not just by polar disorder, but any mental health diagnosis. Yeah, that's great for me, so thank you so much for that. We already talked about the family involved in reporting some of those symptoms, but once there is a diagnosis, what kinds of things can family members and friends due to support somebody who has been diagnosed with a bipolar disorder. I think the first thing they can do is to gently call it out that they see something different in them and that they want to be there for them because they want the best for them, and to do it in a way that is least likely to make the person feel judged. A lot of times people are just afraid to go through the psychiatrists, and I get it. It's like, well, what is this person going to do with that vulnerability? They handle me with care and compassion. So a lot of times just being willing and offering to accompany them to the visit can help reduce the anxiety about seeking mental health treatment. Also being involved in the treatment team and the treatment planning, helping them research, going to support groups with them. I think those are all good steps that can be It can to make the patient feel heard and seen. Yeah, And I think it is also important, you know, because we know that sometimes, especially with the mood swings, it is also important as a caregiver, as a friend and family member to make sure that you're checking in with yourself to make sure that you're you know, taking care of yourself as you're helping to try to take care of this other person. As well. Absolutely so, DNA di gen are there. You know, I know school it is starting soon. People are kind of you know, getting back into the workplaces. Are there some common accommodations that you may be typically suggests or that you've seen work for clients who have a bipolar disorder that they may want to talk with their employer or their schools about. Yes. Because of the episodic nature of bipolar disorder, there are often times where we can fill out f M mel A forms for and that stands for the Family Medical Levat Form for patients, so if they are in an episode, we can protect them, like if they're in the middle of a medic episode, we can have them already available two we filled out a form saying this is episode, they may needed to leave work so that they're protected and they'll have that time off intermittently. We can also make sure we say, hey, you know school starting school is stressful this week, so maybe you take a couple of days off to protect your stress level from not having to manage work and dealing with the kids right now, so that you can focus on one thing at a time. So those are types of measures and making sure they're having time for psychotherapy for any support groups will also be important to make sure that they are able to still function well with the illness. Before we jump into the community questions, let's show some love to our sponsors. Today's podcast is also sponsored by the number one new scripted series on cable, Tyler Perry's Sisters on BAT. The Juicy two Hours Season two premiere happens on Wednesday. I told of fourteen at nine eight Central on b ET, So be sure to grab your popcorn and use the hashtag Sisters on BT as you watch live. We also have a quick message paid for by the Leadership Conference Education Fund. Remember that you don't have to wait until November three to cast your ballot. You can be an October voter. In most cases, you can vote early, request your mail ballot, return your completed ballot in the mail or in person. Our vote early at an early voting location. Let's do our part to try to make sure all voices are heard. Make a plan to vote, visit and still I vote dot org to join the fight for voting rights today. Now let's get back to the questions with Dr de Jon. We also have a couple of questions from some of our community members. So they wanted you to weigh in on some of these questions. So the first question is is this disorder genetic? How does it present in teens and young adults? This person is saying that they weren't diagnosed until they were forty, So yes, bipolar disorder is very commonly run in families. For family histories will increase the risk about tenfold for bipolar disorders. So a lot of times there are people in the family that probably haven't even if you don't know those family members, there are family factors that are genetic. We don't know the exact physiology or pathology of how exactly works. We just know that there's changes in neurotransmitters in the brain and how they are operating that puts you at risk for the illness. But we do know that it is genetic. And Dr de Gene, would you say that it is important for us to go ahead and start having some conversations with our families regardless of symptoms. Right, Like you mentioned, sometimes we don't know that uncle's and aunts and everybody had these diagnosis before like a crisis happened. So would you suggest people you know starting some of these conversations with their fami Emilia's now. I think it would be great if families can open up. Some people may not be as open, but I think that's important for anything. To know your genetic history through family members for any potential illness. It will help you to be prepared for anything that could happen down a lot. I think it'd be great to have those conversations. Thank you. And then the second question from my community, how often is bipolar disorder and misdiagnosed in the Black community versus in other communities? And they also are curious to hear if you have any credible resources to share with people who are interested in learning more about the signs, symptoms, and treatments of bi polar disorder. So that's a great question. A lot of times by polar disorder is often misdiagnosed as a schizophrenia or skis so effective disorder and Black Americans, and we've seen linked to issues with just cultural sensitivity and understanding different races of people. Sometimes someone we have just you know, general moves, swims or a d D and they made the diagnosed with by polar disorder. I don't have is that statistics nor I And if I'm sure that there's any particular statistics on the rate, but it's certainly commonly misdiagnosed, and a lot of times African Americans are commonly misdiagnosed with psychotic disorders more than our white counterparts. And you've already talked about how that could be complicated right because of the medication that they would start them on. Right, So if they are misdiagnosed with schizophrenia and put on something, there could be more of the manic episodes. Like you've already said, Yes, if you're misdiagnosed and put medications, you're probably side effects to those medications or things aren't getting better because it's not being treated appropriately because of the misdiagnosis. In terms of resources, I think it's always good to make sure you get a second opinion if there's any out if you don't feel comfortable, it's okay to go and be formed consumer regarding your health care and go to as many people as you feel that you need to feel like you have certainty about your diagnosis. There's also resources in the community, like the Depression by Polar Support Alliance. That's the national organization that has local chapters throughout the country where you can go and meet with other people who have the same diagnosis. So d d s A also Knowniced Depression by Polar Support Alliance. There's also the National Alliance of Mental Illness that's called NAMI. They also have chapters and a lot of times their support groups even for parents or caregivers or family members who are having loved ones with the illness that you can reach out to. Thank you, and of course we will include all of that in this show. Notes and where can people find you? Dr de Gene? What is your website address as well as any social media handles you want to share. I could be found at the Georgia Psychological Treatment Center. The website is www dot g a psych treatment dot com. You're welcome to also call the office at four zero four for two six five three eight two. And I am not as social media savvy, so I don't know. I'm not a problem. Not a problem. Will include the website and the phone number. What we really appreciate you spending some time with us today and sharing your expertise. Thank you so much, Thank you, thanks for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. I'm so glad that Dr Dejon was able to share her expertise with us today. To learn more about her work and to check out the resources she shared, be sure to visit the show notes at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash Session one seventy six, and don't forget to share this episode with two other sisters in your life who just might appreciate the conversation. If there's a topic you'd like to have covered on the podcast, please admit it at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash mailbox. And if you're looking for a therapist in your area, be sure to check out our therapist directory at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash directory. If you want to continue digging into this topic and connect with some other sisters in your area, come on over and join us in the Yellow College Collective, where we take a deeper dive into the topics on the podcast and just about everything else. You can join us at Therapy for Black Girls dot com slash y c C. Don't forget that if you're looking for a waity in summer on a high note, Cricket Wireless has got just the thing. Get ready for unlimited smiles, unlimited times. For get four lines of unlimited data for a hundred dollars a month. Thank y'all so much for joining me again this week. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you all real soon. Take good care the breast pack for bread for breast wood,

Therapy for Black Girls

The Therapy for Black Girls podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a license 
Social links
Follow podcast
Recent clips
Browse 473 clip(s)