by Claire Ellerbrock, DNP, PMHNP | Nov 25, 2025 | Diagnosis/Assessment tips for treating mental disorders
Bipolar disorder is one of the most challenging conditions to accurately diagnose—especially when it doesn’t present in textbook form. Over the years, I’ve found one simple yet powerful tool to be especially helpful in clinical interviews: the 5 A’s of bipolar...
by Claire Ellerbrock, DNP, PMHNP | Sep 30, 2025 | Diagnosis/Assessment tips for treating mental disorders
Did you know that up to 60% of patients with bipolar disorder are initially misdiagnosed with unipolar depression? Distinguishing bipolar vs unipolar depression is one of the toughest diagnostic challenges because their symptoms can overlap, especially early in the...
by Claire Ellerbrock, DNP, PMHNP | Aug 5, 2025 | Diagnosis/Assessment tips for treating mental disorders
Raise your hand if you knew that bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder have significant similarities 🙋🏾♀️ Even after eight years of working as a psych NP, I recently realized how tough it can be to distinguish bipolar vs borderline personality...