Bipolar Psychiatrist Serving Hartford, CT

A lot of people come in having been treated for depression for years — sometimes decades — and things just never quite stabilized. The medication helped a little, then stopped. Or it made things worse. And there's a reason for that. If the depressive side of bipolar is what shows up at appointments, that's what gets treated. The highs — the weeks when everything feels electric and you don't need sleep — those rarely make it into the chart. If that story sounds familiar, you're not alone. Sindhia Shyras, a board-certified Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner with nine years of experience, works with Hartford adults through telehealth and in-person visits from our New Britain office to get this right.

Why the Wrong Diagnosis Can Follow You for Years

Here's something that doesn't get talked about enough: bipolar disorder is one of the most commonly misdiagnosed conditions in psychiatry. It's not a failure of your previous providers — it's a genuinely hard call, especially when the depressive episodes are what push you to make an appointment in the first place. You show up exhausted, flat, can't get out of bed. Nobody's asking about the month last spring when you barely slept, felt invincible, made a bunch of impulsive decisions, and thought it was just a good stretch. When that piece is missing, depression is a reasonable diagnosis. But it's not the whole picture.

What a Full Evaluation Actually Looks at

Getting the right diagnosis starts with a thorough psychiatric evaluation — not a ten-minute intake, but a real conversation. Sindhia wants to know about the full arc of your mood history. Have there been times that felt too good — elevated, irritable, restless in a way that didn't quite fit the circumstances? Did those periods lead to decisions you later regretted? How long do the lows last compared to the highs? That complete timeline is what separates a depression diagnosis from a bipolar diagnosis. And that distinction changes everything about treatment — because antidepressants used alone in bipolar disorder can actually destabilize mood further.

Frequently Asked Questions