In a recent book by Professor Jane Plant called “Beating Stress, Anxiety and Depression” she lists substantial evidence of how often mental illness is misdiagnosed. (see news story at www.IamBackFromTheBrink.com) I suspect one of the reasons for this is that it is a very inexact science (eg. you can’t take a blood test) and it often takes someone with substantial skill and experience to properly diagnose. Another contributing factor is that some medicines taken for other conditions have depression as a side effect.

When I interviewed over 250 people for my latest book Back from the Brink Too, carers say that their biggest regret is not getting their loved one to a competent doctor sooner to get an accurate diagnosis.

Startling delay in diagnosis

Yesterday, I met with Wendy Williamson from the Blackdog Institute and she told me that it takes 15 years on average from the time someone first presents with syptoms of bipolar till when they are actually diagnosed. There is a lot of unnecessary suffering because of this. I’m not sure what the figures are for depression but I suspect they would be equally worrying. What further complicates things is that different types of depression respond better to different types of drugs. Is it any wonder that some patients and their loved ones are frustrated by trialling drugs that don’t seem to work.

A probable solution

Wendy showed me a new software program developed by the Blackdog Institute called “Mood Assessment Program” or “MAP” which seeks to address this frustrating situation.

The patient is required to sit down and answer a number of questions about their history which takes about an hour. The questions cover the symptoms they are experiencing, their psychological profile, physical health, stressful life events that may contribute to the mood disorder, and what drugs and therapy you have tried.

Save time save suffering

The resulting report provides doctors with a comprehensive overview of your personal experience with depression and provides a probable diagnosis of type of illness you are suffering from. It then presents doctors with the treatments that are most likely to effectively treat depression. The MAP system is in pilot mode at the moment but the results are looking extremely promising. The Blackdog Institute is one of the preeminent mood disorder units in the world and this software allows GP’s, Psychiatrists, and Psychologists to leverage their expertise.

If you have any frustrating experiences about delayed diagnosis or comments on MAP I would like to hear them.

Kind Regards

Graeme

 

Tags: antideppressants, anxiety, bipolar, depression