Bipolar disorder: two separate diagnoses

Depression and

I am writing with considerable disappointment after reading Joe Nocera’s “Depression Is a Disease. Treat It, Don’t Hide It” (Forum, June 17).

Mr. Nocera stressed that people should not “hide” their mental health diagnoses or deny their symptoms — except that “hiding” and “denying” are exactly what he seemed to do.

Mr. Nocera talks about what he described as his brave struggle to come to grips with “depression.” It is only at the end that he acknowledges he was not diagnosed with depression, but with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder and depression are not the same thing. They are both diseases impacting mood but they are different. Depression is often considered a symptom of bipolar disorder, much in the same way pneumonia can be a symptom of lung cancer. Depression can be a separate diagnosis or can be part of another diagnosis. Neither depression (as a standalone diagnosis) nor bipolar disorder is better or worse than the other; they are just different. In fact, “Depressive Disorder” and “Bipolar Disorder” are two separate sections of the DSM-5 (the manual that formally defines different mental health diagnoses).

As a psychologist who has worked with many patients with depression and many with bipolar disorder, I know that both diagnoses present with unique challenges. And, on an additional note, I do not work with medications but help individuals through therapy and counseling (usually in combination with medications prescribed by a psychiatrist).

I am glad things worked out so directly for him. But it would have been nice for him to acknowledge that, for many people with bipolar disorder, successful treatment requires much more than just a medication. DANIEL C. MARSTON,

PH.D. Monroeville