"The examples of markers provided in the DSM-IV for any one of the BP disorders are laughable in that they are too broad and unrepresentative of real life for most people who have the disorder. Diagnosticians who check the tome can't see their patients' malady in it, and, bingo, it goes undetected for years.
"I suspect bipolar disorder presents scores, if not hundreds, of markers - taking all of us together, millions of marker-generated behaviors. Most are related to the stuff found in the DSM-IV, but not easily tied to it.
"What are your markers, symptoms, signs, and signals that are now as plain as day following your diagnosis but were/are invisible or absurdly misinterpreted by psychiatrists, therapists, pastors, friends and family members, et al.? In other words, if we were to rewrite the DSM-IV to show clearly how the disorder presents itself in all its glory, what would we include?"
