Speaker 1: You know, we casually call ourselves ADHD because we're distracted sometimes.
Speaker 1: Or we call ourselves OCD because we like things organized.
Speaker 1: Or maybe we call ourselves bipolar or somebody you know
Speaker 1: bipolar because their moods change all the time. But when
Speaker 1: does normal human behavior actually become a mental health disorder?
Speaker 1: We are banding about these terms and do we really
Speaker 1: know what they mean? And more importantly, do we overuse them?
Speaker 1: And are we really diagnosing normal human behavior as opposed
Speaker 1: to personality disorders? I'm Ellen Stewart, Pushy Broad from the Bronx.
Speaker 1: This is my show, Recovery Recharged. And today's show is
Speaker 1: Stop Diagnosing Me. And we're going to talk about three
Speaker 1: distinct disorders in part one, And then we're going to
Speaker 1: come back and talk about the same thing, but three
Speaker 1: different disorders in part two. Today's part one is ADD
Speaker 1: or ADHD, as we know, is attention deficit disorder. OCD,
Speaker 1: as we know, is obsessive compulsive disorder and bipolar disorder.
Speaker 1: Do we have them or are we just labeling ourselves?
Speaker 1: Because those are the words of the day. So, I
Speaker 1: decided that the only way to really know is to
Speaker 1: get a licensed clinician in so that he can answer
Speaker 1: questions for us so we can determine whether we're really
Speaker 1: a diagnosed disorder or we're just behaving humanly. I want
Speaker 1: to introduce you to an old friend of mine, Nelson Hadler,
Speaker 1: who was kind enough to come today to the studio
Speaker 1: on his birthday. So happy birthday, Nelson.
Speaker 2: Thank you, Ellen.
Speaker 1: He is a licensed clinical social worker, a licensed certified
Speaker 1: alcohol and drug counselor, and he has over 30 years
Speaker 1: of experience in addictions and mental health. He's in private practice.
Speaker 1: He has license in various states, and he'll tell us where.
Speaker 1: He's extremely experienced in working with families, adolescents, adults, and
Speaker 1: personality disorders. Welcome to my show, Nelson. Good morning.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Ellen.
Speaker 1: I want to know right out of the gate, do
Speaker 1: you think we're becoming too quick to turn ordinary human
Speaker 1: behavior into a psychiatric diagnosis?
Speaker 2: Oh, yes. Yes, I think we confuse layman terms for
Speaker 2: certain clusters of behavior for actual disorders.
Speaker 1: Like what?
Speaker 2: Like the ones that we're talking about today, you know,
Speaker 2: so ADHD.
Speaker 1: So let's talk just a little bit about ADHD. What's
Speaker 1: the difference between, first of all, tell us the difference
Speaker 1: between ADHD and ADD. Tell us about that from a
Speaker 1: clinical point of view.
Speaker 2: Well, it was ADD through the 80s. And I think
Speaker 2: about 1987 in the Diagnostic Statistics Manual, they change it
Speaker 2: to ADHD. attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, primarily inattentive, primarily hyperactive,
Speaker 2: and mixed. So a lot of people just shortened it
Speaker 2: back to the old thing, ADD. They made the change
Speaker 2: simply to distinguish between what behaviors were presenting.
Speaker 1: I see. Okay. So Now, most people, when they think
Speaker 1: of ADD or ADHD, think about somebody that can't regularly
Speaker 1: focus or they're easily distracted. So tell us what you
Speaker 1: would know the difference when you're diagnosing somebody. How do
Speaker 1: you know whether this person is ADD or just exhibiting
Speaker 1: normal human behavior?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, you need to run the person
Speaker 2: through the criteria and see what they fit. But you
Speaker 2: also need to keep an eye out for the differential diagnoses.
Speaker 2: Is the person just a little flighty? Is the person anxious?
Speaker 2: Do they have an anxiety disorder? Are they so depressed
Speaker 2: they can't concentrate? Are they grieving? Have they just had
Speaker 2: a medication change? Are they in withdrawal? Are they in
Speaker 2: post-acute withdrawal? you have to rule out everything else that
Speaker 2: could be responsible for the presentation. So it is kind
Speaker 2: of overused. I mean, one of my litmus tests, you know,
Speaker 2: I'll have the person come in who's been, you know,
Speaker 2: in and out of substance abuse treatment and says, I
Speaker 2: have ADHD. And I asked them a little bit about
Speaker 2: the background and I'm really not finding that. And, you know,
Speaker 2: they go, oh, and you know, I've been prescribed Adderall,
Speaker 2: but they used it as a stimulant. They used it
Speaker 2: as a methamphetamine. You know, one of the biggest litmus
Speaker 2: tests is how do you respond to ADHD medication? Oh,
Speaker 2: I can focus and all the distractions go away and
Speaker 2: I'm like this. Or, oh, I can stay up all
Speaker 2: night and study. It's very different. People with ADHD have
Speaker 2: what they call a paradoxical effect of actually focusing. So
Speaker 2: a lot of times I ask that.
Speaker 1: Okay, so in a clinical sense, but in layman's term,
Speaker 1: tell us how you have diagnosed someone ADD, ADHD. What
Speaker 1: exactly is the criterion for that classic diagnosis in layman's terms?
Speaker 1: So I know whether or not I actually have it.
Speaker 1: Setting aside all of the other things that you said,
Speaker 1: I'm not grieving, I'm not anxious, I'm not nervous. a
Speaker 1: person that you would consider clinically ADD, ADHD. Give us
Speaker 1: an idea of some of the major standout symptoms.
Speaker 2: I'll try to think of all the criteria in the book, but,
Speaker 2: you know, can't sit still, comes unprepared for tasks at school,
Speaker 2: jumps around easily, you know, that type of thing. You know,
Speaker 2: one of the biggest things you want to look at is,
Speaker 2: Are they, how do I say it? Are they, ADHD,
Speaker 2: people with true ADHD can focus on things that they're
Speaker 2: motivated to. It's a disorder of ordering tasks. If they're
Speaker 2: not motivated to do their math homework, it just doesn't
Speaker 2: come up. It's not laziness. It's not avoidance. It just
Speaker 2: doesn't get put in the forefront of the list of
Speaker 2: tasks one needs to accomplish next. So that's what you
Speaker 2: really look at.
Speaker 1: That's very interesting because now that everybody is pretty much
Speaker 1: going back to school, most people in different parts of
Speaker 1: the country have already started school and others, of course,
Speaker 1: here up in the East Coast where we are, or
Speaker 1: at least on the East Coast are going back very,
Speaker 1: very soon. It is something that parents are looking for
Speaker 1: to make sure that their child is learning and processing
Speaker 1: in the right way. So an ADD person also I
Speaker 1: have found from people that I know have come to
Speaker 1: me with that classic diagnosis can start talking about something
Speaker 1: in simple conversation and then extend to so many different
Speaker 1: tangents that they have difficulty coming back to the first thought.
Speaker 1: Is that a trait that you've noticed as well?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, but I mean, again, one thing we'll discuss a
Speaker 2: little bit is You know, are we just quick to label?
Speaker 2: I mean, that could be somebody with a bipolar disorder
Speaker 2: in a manic episode.
Speaker 1: I see. But I'm talking about now clinically ADD or
Speaker 1: ADHD person. So what do you find when people label themselves? OK,
Speaker 1: when somebody turns around and says, oh, you're so ADD, right?
Speaker 1: That happens a lot. I see it a lot. I
Speaker 1: find sometimes that's when people talk about people who are,
Speaker 1: like you said, a little bit more nervous or a
Speaker 1: little anxious or have a lot on their plate.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Do you find that that's how we misdiagnose ADD?
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: So now is there any difference between ADD and ADHD
Speaker 1: since they put in that, you know, hyperactivity disorder? Is
Speaker 1: there a difference?
Speaker 2: No, you always look for, you know, the less diagnosed
Speaker 2: is the inattentive because they're not hyper and all over
Speaker 2: the place and jumping around.
Speaker 1: I see.
Speaker 2: But, you know, they'll be like answering a math problem
Speaker 2: and be like, oh, look at that chicken, you know.
Speaker 1: Okay. So this also comes with a certain amount of
Speaker 1: impulsivity too, I mean, right? people can be distracted by
Speaker 1: a whole plethora of things that have nothing to do
Speaker 1: with ADD, like they can be exhausted or overwhelmed or
Speaker 1: anxious or depressed. All of those things that would seem
Speaker 1: as if they have those symptoms. So what you're saying
Speaker 1: to us is they should be clinically diagnosed. Okay, so
Speaker 1: now one thing with this specifically, I have many young
Speaker 1: adults coming to me and telling me, that they'd been
Speaker 1: diagnosed as ADD or ADHD at an early age, like
Speaker 1: in elementary, in grade school, and haven't had a diagnosis since.
Speaker 1: What do you suggest to these people?
Speaker 2: Is it impacting their life today?
Speaker 1: Well, that's a very.
Speaker 2: you know are they having is it is it affecting
Speaker 2: work is it affecting relationships you know um just be
Speaker 2: it's over diagnosed you know i mean if someone said
Speaker 2: they were diagnosed adhd at six years old i'd ask
Speaker 2: them what was going on at six years old okay
Speaker 2: okay did they have did grandma die Did a parent die?
Speaker 2: Did they have a trauma? Did anybody look for abuse
Speaker 2: or PTSD? You know, if they were diagnosed in grammar
Speaker 2: school and really haven't had an issue since, is it
Speaker 2: possible for other causes or maybe just you're fine?
Speaker 1: Okay. Is it possible for someone to have ADD or
Speaker 1: ADHD as a diagnosis and then have that diagnosis disappear
Speaker 1: or resolve? Is that possible?
Speaker 2: I don't believe if it's a true diagnosis, you can
Speaker 2: treat it and you can learn skills to counteract it.
Speaker 1: I see. I see. Like addiction, you can put it
Speaker 1: in remission, but it never really works.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Correctly. You can address it.
Speaker 1: So that's very interesting.
Speaker 2: Yes. Okay.
Speaker 1: Do you think that current stimulus like our phones and
Speaker 1: the computer and the technology and all the multitasking that
Speaker 1: we do on a regular basis, Can exacerbate ADHD or
Speaker 1: mimic ADHD among students?
Speaker 2: Well, exacerbate, yes. You know, it's just another distraction. So
Speaker 2: you need to be in class. You need to be
Speaker 2: on the phone. You need to be focusing on something.
Speaker 2: Then there's social media. So, you know, that's exacerbation. And
Speaker 2: then people can just be spaced out on their phone.
Speaker 2: I mean, look at texting. And driving, you know.
Speaker 1: Yes, which means another thing, but yes.
Speaker 2: You don't need to be ADHD to be on your
Speaker 2: phone all the time, although it certainly would feed into it.
Speaker 1: Exactly. Okay. So it doesn't mean technology causes ADHD. It
Speaker 1: means that difficulty concentrating has many possible causes, right?
Speaker 2: Yes. That's my big point. All right.
Speaker 1: Now, because this is recovery recharge and we talk a
Speaker 1: lot about addiction, can you talk about how addiction or
Speaker 1: early recovery look like ADHD? How does that manifest itself?
Speaker 1: How could that be confused with ADD or ADHD? Somebody
Speaker 1: that is at early recovery.
Speaker 2: Well, they're gonna be depressed. They're gonna be anxious. They're
Speaker 2: gonna have the initial withdrawal symptoms from the substance. They're
Speaker 2: gonna be experiencing post-acute withdrawal symptoms, you know, syndrome, I
Speaker 2: should say. And, you know, those things look like ADHD. Irritability,
Speaker 2: difficulty concentrating, it's right there.
Speaker 1: You know, anxiety, depression, fatigue. Right, all of the disruptions.
Speaker 2: It's going to make it hard to concentrate.
Speaker 1: Exactly. So you need to take a look at.
Speaker 2: How long the duration of these difficulties are.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: Because I hear a lot of people say, I can't concentrate,
Speaker 1: I'm restless, I'm impulsive, I can't sleep, I'm forgetting everything,
Speaker 1: I must have ADHD. And again, this could be temporary
Speaker 1: in terms of early recovery, right? Because like you said,
Speaker 1: the post-acute withdrawal and all of that, and we have
Speaker 1: to see whether or not these symptoms persist down the road.
Speaker 2: You have to look over time and you have to look, hopefully,
Speaker 2: over periods of abstinence.
Speaker 1: Of course. Okay, so is ADD the kind of disorder
Speaker 1: that happens in early childhood and continues? Or can somebody
Speaker 1: in adolescence or young adulthood or even adulthood develop ADD
Speaker 1: or ADHD? How does that work?
Speaker 2: I believe it's something you're born with if it's true ADHD.
Speaker 2: You know, classically, Classically, the ADHD child is bright. They
Speaker 2: have higher IQ and they're able to compensate for their
Speaker 2: lack of attention through grammar school. And oftentimes what we
Speaker 2: see is in eighth and ninth grade, these bright kids
Speaker 2: that always had all A's start having problems with some subjects.
Speaker 2: And that's when we want to dig into Could this
Speaker 2: be ADHD? So that's usually where it raises its head,
Speaker 2: especially the non-hyperactive inattentive cognitive. I see.
Speaker 1: So we're finding more of these diagnoses prevalent in a
Speaker 1: middle school situation.
Speaker 2: Yes. A lot of times that's where it's first identified.
Speaker 1: I see. Okay. All right. Okay. But you said something
Speaker 1: very telling, which is the theme of this entire thing.
Speaker 1: And in the beginning is, How is this affecting your life?
Speaker 1: Or parents, how is this diagnosis or these behaviors affecting
Speaker 1: the life of your child, right? Is it interfering with
Speaker 1: everyday processes? Is it overtaking them in a way that
Speaker 1: is mood altering, right? All of the things they should
Speaker 1: be looking out for?
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: What else should they be looking out for?
Speaker 2: Well, again, the hyperactivity and what's driving that. You know,
Speaker 2: the forgetting to bring things.
Speaker 1: Okay. All of that. And the fact that the concentration
Speaker 1: seems to wane, the focus seems to wane on things.
Speaker 2: Right. And another thing, you know, folks with ADHD tend
Speaker 2: to develop into procrastinators. People procrastinate for a lot of reasons,
Speaker 2: but You know, the child with ADHD kind of learns
Speaker 2: that they don't pay attention, but when the assignment is
Speaker 2: due tomorrow, that causes anxiety and stress, and the anxiety
Speaker 2: and stress then becomes the motivator. Then it's in the
Speaker 2: frontal lobe as, oh, my God, I need to do
Speaker 2: this now. Then they're able to concentrate. So we look
Speaker 2: for that.
Speaker 1: Right. So then they wait, of course, to be under
Speaker 1: the gun, to be under that kind of pressure.
Speaker 2: It's kind of a subconscious way they can become motivated.
Speaker 1: That's very interesting. And on that note, because you said that,
Speaker 1: before we move on to the next disorder that I
Speaker 1: certainly want to talk to you about, if we find
Speaker 1: that that's the case, what's the difference between normal I mean,
Speaker 1: can you sum up just briefly? I know there's a
Speaker 1: lot of criterion, but what's the difference between normal procrastination
Speaker 1: and ADHD procrastination? Do we know?
Speaker 2: I usually, what I do is I usually look for
Speaker 2: other signs of ADHD. If I find them, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 2: I think that's driving the procrastination. I see. Okay. If
Speaker 2: we're not seeing that, I would look in a lot
Speaker 2: of other, is what's causing the anxiety? Is there? performance
Speaker 2: is there a fear of failure is there depression i
Speaker 2: mean it's there's a plethora of things.
Speaker 1: Of things right okay all right so let's move out
Speaker 1: of the add adhd and move into something that we
Speaker 1: also hear a lot about you can hear someone say
Speaker 1: oh my god i'm so ocd as opposed to i'm
Speaker 1: just naturally organized Let's talk about those two things and
Speaker 1: how people can confuse the diagnosis. Tell us what OCD
Speaker 1: is from a clinical point of view and what we
Speaker 1: should be looking at.
Speaker 2: OCD means that there is an obsession, intrusive thoughts that
Speaker 2: you must usually complete a task or avoid the stimuli.
Speaker 2: And the compulsion is the behavior of avoiding.
Speaker 1: Okay. So for somebody.
Speaker 2: Now, again, it's down to... Does it interfere with your functioning?
Speaker 1: Okay. There are some very telling things about OCD that
Speaker 1: are very, very different from normal behavior. And you said
Speaker 1: these things, but I don't want to gloss over them, right?
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: The one thing that comes with OCD most prevalently, no
Speaker 1: matter what kind of OCD you have, and if you
Speaker 1: want to talk about those kinds, because there's relational and
Speaker 1: all kinds of other, you know, different OCDs, But the
Speaker 1: one thing that comes across most often, which separates us
Speaker 1: from normal human behavior, are the words intrusive thoughts.
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: Okay. So I want you to explain in layman's terms,
Speaker 1: somebody trying to understand someone with OCD, exactly what happens
Speaker 1: in an intrusive thought. Give us an example.
Speaker 2: You don't want to have the thoughts. They're causing anxiety.
Speaker 2: They're causing preoccupation. And to get rid of them, you
Speaker 2: have to perform the behavior. You have to do something.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: So I'm going to leave my office and turn off
Speaker 2: the light. I had the intrusive thought that if I
Speaker 2: don't turn the light switch on and off 50 times,
Speaker 2: I'm going to die. That's kind of what they experience.
Speaker 2: You know, that's what it feels like and the thought is.
Speaker 2: And so they have to do it 50 times.
Speaker 1: Okay. And that is going.
Speaker 2: To impair their functioning.
Speaker 1: Exactly. And just because I'm organized and just because I
Speaker 1: put things in order and I have a clean closet
Speaker 1: or I have a clean workspace or I have a
Speaker 1: clean house. doesn't mean that intrusive thoughts are coming into
Speaker 1: my head where if I don't do these things, something
Speaker 1: catastrophic will happen to me.
Speaker 2: Correct?
Speaker 1: Correct.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 1: So is intrusive thoughts one of the primary distinguishable diagnosis
Speaker 1: for OCD? Without intrusive thoughts, would we say that we
Speaker 1: don't have OCD?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say so. I would agree. Okay.
Speaker 1: Okay. So that's a big thing. So all of you
Speaker 1: that are organized out there and put things away, if
Speaker 1: you're thinking that you have to go back and rearrange
Speaker 1: the shoes five or six or seven or a hundred
Speaker 1: times in order to feel good, that would be OCD.
Speaker 1: But if you just have a clean space or an
Speaker 1: organized space, or don't like to wait until the last
Speaker 1: minute or are structured in your life, then you are
Speaker 1: not OCD. Correct?
Speaker 4: Correct.
Speaker 2: Correct. And it can be mild. I mean, my desk is,
Speaker 2: Everything is at the right angles and perfect. For years,
Speaker 2: I worked with a desk where the client sat in
Speaker 2: front of my desk and I had this one young
Speaker 2: woman that would come in and move things around. And
Speaker 2: I'd be like, you can't do that. It was a
Speaker 2: little bit impairing my functioning. I had to focus on that.
Speaker 1: Okay. All right.
Speaker 2: But it was very mild. Okay. You know, and the
Speaker 2: other piece is people are born with traits. So, like,
Speaker 2: I'm a little OCD, but it never really impairs my functioning.
Speaker 2: I like to line things up and things, and it's
Speaker 2: a little weird. I like to take everything in the refrigerator,
Speaker 2: make sure the labels are facing forward, and my wife
Speaker 2: will go, stop being OCD. I'm like, I like that.
Speaker 2: You know, so if, you know, I always say diagnoses,
Speaker 2: you know, are kind of like a combination of what
Speaker 2: you're born with And then like what temperature you set
Speaker 2: the oven at and where you set the timer. You know,
Speaker 2: let's say I was exposed to a significant trauma as
Speaker 2: a child that, you know, since I have those OCD traits,
Speaker 2: that might be where it manifests.
Speaker 1: That began.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: I understand.
Speaker 2: OK.
Speaker 1: All right. And in that line, let's finish this up.
Speaker 1: And I want to go on to the next thing.
Speaker 1: Can perfectionism be mistaken for OCD? Tell us about that.
Speaker 4: Absolutely.
Speaker 1: Tell us how.
Speaker 2: You know, I think a lot of people need to,
Speaker 2: when you say mistaken, like mistaken by a professional? Well, no.
Speaker 1: No, I mean, if I'm self-diagnosed, right? I mean, well,
Speaker 1: certainly maybe not by a professional because there are other
Speaker 1: probing questions, obviously, with all the other current personality disorders.
Speaker 1: But I'm talking about those of us here listening. The
Speaker 1: people that are listening to you are wondering, if I'm
Speaker 1: a perfectionist, do I have OCD? So what do you
Speaker 1: say to these people?
Speaker 2: No, not if it doesn't get in the way of
Speaker 2: your functioning. That's going to be the golden rule here.
Speaker 1: No matter what.
Speaker 2: Right. And, you know, if the person's functioning is impaired,
Speaker 2: you would really need to take a look at, is
Speaker 2: it really the OCD that's impairing?
Speaker 1: OK, OK. So if I'm going to prepare the holiday
Speaker 1: dinner because Thanksgiving is coming and everything has to be
Speaker 1: completely perfect and I have to have all my ducks
Speaker 1: in a row and all the China out and the
Speaker 1: and the gravy has to be perfect and the turkey
Speaker 1: has to be perfect or it's a direct reflection on
Speaker 1: me and everything has to be completely set up in
Speaker 1: a way that is driving me bananas, then that are
Speaker 1: those are probably direct OCD symptoms, would we say?
Speaker 2: Maybe.
Speaker 3: Maybe.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Maybe you just like everything to be perfect in your cooking. Okay.
Speaker 2: I would say, okay, so everything needs to be perfect
Speaker 2: and you get everything on the table and the gravy
Speaker 2: is cold. Do you roll with it and heat it
Speaker 2: up a little bit or do you throw the whole
Speaker 2: meal out and tell everybody it's going to be four
Speaker 2: hours till we eat again? The latter would be real OCD. Right.
Speaker 1: Would be real OCD.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 1: So absolutely it is in extremes, but yes, sometimes perfectionism
Speaker 1: can be, you know, misdiagnosed or you, you can think
Speaker 1: that your OCD, if you're so perfect, if you're going back,
Speaker 1: like we said, and fixing the pencils on your desk
Speaker 1: or making sure that it's right a thousand times or,
Speaker 1: going back to see whether or not the oven is
Speaker 1: turned on or making sure that the bed is exactly
Speaker 1: made perfectly and go back several times to see that
Speaker 1: everything in the pillows and the cushions are exactly the
Speaker 1: way they need to be, right?
Speaker 2: Yes.
Speaker 1: So that's when perfectionism is not really perfectionism at all,
Speaker 1: but a beginning sign of OCD.
Speaker 2: Yeah? You could say that. Okay.
Speaker 1: And also.
Speaker 1: It's not only a question of needing everything to be perfect.
Speaker 1: Like you said, it's if you can tolerate it when
Speaker 1: you are not perfect.
Speaker 2: Right. Right. Exactly. Can you move on and prioritize and
Speaker 2: get the task done? Right.
Speaker 1: Okay. Okay. So you also want to.
Speaker 3: Look at, I mean, adult children of alcoholics and, and, uh,
Speaker 3: people with substance use disorders can tend to be perfectionists,
Speaker 3: you know, um, How so?
Speaker 2: I remember a co-worker talking about a client once. He said,
Speaker 2: there comes Clem in his alcoholic truck. And it was
Speaker 2: early in my career. I'm like, what's an alcoholic truck?
Speaker 2: And he's like, it's old. It's got rust on it,
Speaker 2: but it's perfect. It doesn't have any dust. It's polished, armor-old.
Speaker 2: And I was like, oh. So they put out this
Speaker 2: facade of being perfect. And that's what happens in an
Speaker 2: alcoholic family system. I see. You're the child of an alcoholic.
Speaker 2: So if you're a family hero, which is a whole other,
Speaker 2: I won't go in that whole direction, but like being perfect,
Speaker 2: being successful can become somewhat obsessive, but the motivator would
Speaker 2: be more the having to look at the family system
Speaker 2: the person came from.
Speaker 1: I understand. Okay. I want to get to the next
Speaker 1: thing and we have a very short amount of time,
Speaker 1: so I want to encapsulate it. Let's talk about tackling
Speaker 1: bipolar disorder, right? She's so bipolar, she was happy this
Speaker 1: morning and furious tonight, right? She must be, if she's
Speaker 1: not going through her changes or it's not that time
Speaker 1: of the month or I don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: with them, is that bipolar disorder? Let's break it down
Speaker 1: really easy in about 60 seconds.
Speaker 2: No, it's not. And it's my pet peeve and probably...
Speaker 2: The second, up there with ADHD as far as misdiagnosis
Speaker 2: is bipolar. You can have mood swings without having a
Speaker 2: bipolar disorder. You can be sad in the morning and
Speaker 2: happy in the afternoon.
Speaker 1: Okay, so what distinguishes a true bipolar diagnosis? 30 seconds.
Speaker 2: Was there a manic episode for regular bipolar? Has there
Speaker 2: been depressive episodes? Can you... Is there other ways to
Speaker 2: account for the manic episodes? You know, I mean, those
Speaker 2: are the big things. You know, manic episodes are dangerous behavior.
Speaker 2: You know, my first question is, have you had a
Speaker 2: period of not being able to sleep for one to
Speaker 2: three days, but you're not tired?
Speaker 1: I see. Okay. So it's clinicians thinking that there is
Speaker 1: a decreased need for sleep, maybe unusually elevated or irritable mood.
Speaker 1: Increased activity, rapid speech, racing thoughts, grandiosity, and risky behavior.
Speaker 1: Those things specifically would be bipolar, but having general mood swings, no.
Speaker 1: So thank you so much for part one. We have
Speaker 1: talked about bipolar. We've talked about OCD. We have talked
Speaker 1: about ADD. Do not bandy those terms about unless you
Speaker 1: get a clinical diagnosis. Stop calling yourself something you are not.
Speaker 1: This is the Pushy Broad from the Bronx. Come back
Speaker 1: to us for part two. We're going to talk about
Speaker 1: other diagnosis that people just confuse for normal behavior. Thank
Speaker 1: you so much. And we'll see you next time.
Speaker 4: She's the Pushy Broad from the Bronx, New York. Follow
Speaker 4: her voice, her straight talk is nice. She's a pushy
Speaker 4: broad from the Bronx, oh yeah. Don't be surprised if
Speaker 4: you want to listen twice.
Speaker 2: Make decisions, find the right choice.
Speaker 4: Know yourself better, find your own voice.
Speaker 2: It's okay if.
Speaker 4: You need help today because everybody.
Speaker 2: Needs a little push.
Speaker 4: From the pushy broad from the Bronx, New York.