Is Cloning the Realization of a Master Race?

The study of medicine in general has been studied for many centuries. Or as other mental problems. So, why does this happen? If medicine is so advanced in this day and time, how come there are patients out there being treated for an illness they don’t have and left untreated for an illness they do? For some, it’s because the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder aren’t cut and dry. Also, misdiagnosis occurs because the symptoms of Bipolar Disorder overlap that of other illnesses. Of course, it’s not all the fault of the medicine. Patients have a duty to their doctor to completely explain all of their symptoms, so that the doctor can make a correct diagnosis with the information given.

In order to understand why bipolar disorder is misdiagnosed, you have to know what it is and what causes it. According to Francis Mark Mondimore, M.D., bipolar disorder consists of “periods

The research I did for this paper opened my eyes and helped me to narrow my career view. I’ve always wanted to be a doctor but now know I want to go into psychiatry and research. I’m not asking you to do the same but if all you can do is give money to aid in research then do it. I like to look at aiding research as giving blood. Both are needed to save lives. Knowledge is power. If research persists then patients and doctors will know more about mental disorders and the diagnosis process will be easier.

Bipolar Disorder is “long-term…[and requires] long-term treatment” (G. Simon 1). Research is coming along. In fact, a new batch of antipsychotic medicines is being considered for help in preventing the bad side effects of misdiagnosis. In Gregory Simon’s article “Treating bipolar disorder: present and future” featured in the November-December, 2001 issue of Psychology Today, he brings new hope with the statement of a time frame “[in] five years…there should be a wider range of effective mood-stabilizer medications to choose from” (G. Simon 1). It is my understanding that these medications will help to address the fact that depression and bipolar disorder, though similar, are very different and the misdiagnosis of one as the other is costly, therefore these medications promise a plausible effectiveness where other drugs have failed.

For one bipolar sufferer it wasn’t one event in particular but, rather a series of events that all occurred in the year of 1998. Anita Atkins lost her father-in-law to cancer, had a baby, found out she was pregnant, and her father survived a stroke (Personal Interview). The year 1998 and all it encompassed was definitely her trigger. During our interview, she revealed that she was actually misdiagnosed. She was first diagnosed with post-partum depression (PPD), an illness that occurs after a woman gives birth, it usually lasts only a few months and is very treatable. It wasn’t until she went to her family doctor, who diagnosed her with PPD, and told him that she felt she needed more help because she “had thoughts of suicide” (Personal Interview). Her doctor then referred her to a psychiatrist who then correctly diagnosed her with bipolar disorder. Now she is in control of her disorder thanks to proper medication and psychotherapy every three months.

As I have said before, bipolar disorder involves two different mood states. Schizophrenics are commonly thought to have many personalities. Because bipolar mood states are so different they may also be seen as different personalities. Bipolar disorder is actually a combination of two illnesses, mania and depression. Similarly, “schizophrenia…is actually a series of disorders” (Young 40). The two disorders are very much the same. Since bipolar disorder was not acknowledged until the seventies. It was often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia.

The amount of information available for mental disorders is very limited. But the amount of information for children is even smaller. In adults bipolar disorder is mainly misdiagn

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