Respond to a colleague postings in one or more of the following ways:

• Address a colleague's analysis and evaluation of the topic(s).
• Expand or remark upon a colleague's integration of relevant resources.
• Answer question(s) posed by your colleague for further discussion.
• Link a colleague's posting to other postings or to course materials and concepts, where appropriate and relevant.
• Extend or constructively challenge your colleague's work.
• Otherwise expand upon your colleagues' postings.

Identify the distinctions between key characteristics for the diagnosis of bipolar and depressive disorders.

Bipolar and depressive disorders are often time misdiagnosed interchangeably due to key similarities with depression (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). One of the distinctions between the two is that bipolar has a history of mania or hypomania, so it is very important to ask questions (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). Also, another key distinction between bipolar is a family history, psychotic symptoms, and the onset of early 20s (American Psychiatric Association, 2022).

Explain the impact of misdiagnosis from a lack of understanding these distinctions, including to the client, to the agency, or to an insurance provider.

The impact of misdiagnosing depressive disorders and bipolar disorder is very impactful. When someone is misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, they can be treated with antidepressants that may trigger a manic episode (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). When an individual is misdiagnosed, it can lead to delayed treatment that can worsen one's behavior. One can run the risk of not having insurance pay for treatment due to not fitting criteria.

Explain when you would use "other specified" and "unspecified" when diagnosing mental disorders. Explain the impact to the client.

I would use other specified to "communicate the specific reason in which the client's presentation did not meet criteria for a category within the diagnostic class" (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). I would use unspecified is used when the clinician does not communicate why the client did not meet the criteria for the disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). This impacts the client because it shows that the clinician is not certain about the diagnoses or that they did not meet all criteria causing it to be hard on the providers and client to to get a targeted treatment plan. It also causes complications with insurance companies, with them being less likely to approve treatment when the diagnosis is left unspecified or other specified.

Explain the specifier "with anxious distress and when you would use it."

The specifier "with anxious distress" is when there are "two or more symptoms that occur most of the day in the current manic, hypomanic, or major depressive episode; these symptoms being feeling keyed up or tense, feeling unusually restless, difficulty concentrating, fear that something awful will happen, and the feeling of losing control of themselves (American Psychiatric Association, 2022). You would use this specifier if someone has identified this is how most of their days feel (American Psychiatric Association, 2022).

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2022).