Mood instability - the patient experience of the psychiatric assessment process

Presenter: Dr Amy Manley

Interviewee: Dr Kate Saunders

Audio running time: 12 minutes

Credits: 0.5

Emotional instability is a common reason for presentation to mental health services. Bipolar disorder and emotionally unstable personality disorder both include emotional instability in their diagnostic criteria. Diagnosis is often difficult and clinicians don’t always agree upon a diagnosis in a specific individual. This can be frustrating for a patient and have significant implications for management and prognosis. Surprisingly however, there has been limited previous research into the patient’s experience of this assessment process.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this podcast we hope you will:

• have gained an understanding of the patient experience and how it influences the diagnostic process

• appreciate the implications of these findings for clinical practice and future research

• consider the consistency of care and service provisions for patients with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.

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