notreallystars

"This is the kind of thing we'll need to have if you want to convince the consultant. This is a very classic bipolar pattern, but because of your diagnosis at the moment we're going to need a lot of evidence."

This is what my mental health care coordinator said to me when I showed him the two-week old mood diary that I've been keeping, which documented the very sudden switch from a depressive episode to hypomania. I've been telling mental health professionals about these mood episodes for years but they never took me very seriously. They have tended to convey the impression that I am wasting their time, that my 'pretending' to have hypomanic episodes was some bizarre cry for attention, and that to entertain the idea that anyone with my diagnosis (borderline personality disorder) might be telling the truth about having symptoms of other mental illnesses would be a preposterous waste of mental effort.

It's possible that I'm a little over-sensitive.

( In which I'm very critical of NHS mental health services )