Bipolar Disorder/brain injuries

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Expert: - 9/13/2006


Question
I had a brain injury about seven years ago. Before then I was digoised with depression. THen in my mid twenties a docort told me I was bipolar. I was just wondering if these had any links? And how does one go from having depression to being bipoplar?  

Answer
Hi . . .

Many if not most people with bipolar disorder have been misdiagnosed before the true nature of their depressive problem was identified. Most usually they were thought to have ADD/ADSHD or depression before the bipolar nature of their problem was recognized.

A brain injury is sometimes followed by the appearance of what looks like bipolar disorder, Such a bipolar disorder is treated no differently from one that appears without a history of a brain injury.

Best regards . . .

Ivan
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Ivan Goldberg, M.D.

Expertise

I am a psychiatrist/psychopharmacologist with many years of expereince in treating individuals with depressions, manic-depression (Bipolar Disorder), other mood disorders,. I am especially interested in the psychopharmacologic treatment of individuals with so called "treatment-resistant" syndromes.

Experience

I have been on the staff of the National Institute of Mental Health, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons, and the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. I am currently in full-time private practice in New York City.

A.B. Johns Hopkins University
M.D. N.Y.U. College of Medicine

I am the creator of Depression Central:http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.html

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