More than ten years ago, in the throes of a suicidal depression, I sought out a psychiatrist, who diagnosed me with clinical depression. The antidepressant he prescribed flipped me into mania, which made a bipolar diagnosis a no-brainer. I consider myself one of the lucky ones. Many continue to lead miserable lives for years with their misdiagnosis, enduring the heartbreak of one failed antidepressant after the other.

Question: Were you misdiagnosed with depression or something else? How long did it take before you finally received the correct diagnosis?

Please feel free to elaborate. Were there clues that your psychiatrist missed completely? Did your psychiatrist fail to listen to you? What happened that made your psychiatrist finally wise up? Also, if you encountered an astute psychiatrist who got it right the first time or who could not be blamed for calling it wrong, please fill us in.

Finally, once you were diagnosed correctly and given the right meds, did you start feeling better?