
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 25, 1993                   TAG: 9305250004
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN FRANCISCO                                LENGTH: Short

MOOD-SWING ILLNESS OFTEN DIAGNOSED WRONG IN STUDY

Manic-depression - mood swings of depression and euphoria that afflict more than 3 million Americans - often takes years to diagnose after sufferers first seek help, researchers report.

For 500 patients in the sample, it took an average of eight years to get the correct diagnosis. One-third said it took more than a decade to identify the problem.

On average, participants said they consulted three doctors before getting a correct diagnosis.

"It is a treatable illness, and that's why we're concerned about the delay in diagnosis," said Dr. Peter Whybrow, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University of Pennsylvania, who worked on the study.

Because the disorder begins most commonly at ages 15 to 19, an untreated case disrupts a person's life at a vulnerable time, possibly leading to drug abuse and failure in college and the job, Whybrow said.

The study, by the Chicago-based National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association, was presented Monday to the American Psychiatric Association.

Michael Strober, psychiatry professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said delays weren't surprising. He has seen many patients with fairly classic illness that nevertheless was diagnosed wrong, he said.

Lack of awareness by mental health professionals is much of the problem, Strober said.

The disorder's periods of depression can include disturbances in sleep and eating, and periods of mania. It can be treated with medications such as lithium.

If untreated, the depression may make a person unable to go to work or to function effectively.

by CNB