Misdiagnosis can lead to
inappropriate treatment and poor treatment outcome.7
For
example, standard antidepressants, which commonly provide
adequate efficacy and tolerability in unipolar major
depressive disorder, when administered to individuals with
bipolar disorder, can have inadequate efficacy (leaving individuals
depressed) and/or tolerability (causing emergence of
manic symptoms).8
Indeed, investigators have reported that
as many as over one-third of bipolar disorder patients may
endure as long as a decade of affective symptoms before
appropriate diagnosis and treatment.