Bipolar Disorder Is More Likely to Be Misdiagnosed if You’re Black — Here’s How to Advocate for Yourself

Research shows Black people with bipolar disorder are more likely to be misdiagnosed with schizophrenia than white people because of barriers like racism, stigma, and medical mistrust. Photo courtesy of Stefan Amer/iStock.

Bipolar disorder — a mood disorder with alternating periods of extreme highs (mania) and deep lows (depression) — affects 2.8 percent of U.S. adults. Although Black people experience bipolar disorder at the same rate as white people, decades of research show Black people are more likely to have their bipolar disorder misdiagnosed as another condition.

A review of scientific evidence, published in March 2018 in Bipolar Disorders, found that people of African ancestry with bipolar disorder were more often misdiagnosed with another condition, such as schizophrenia, than people of non-African ancestry.

Several factors contribute to the misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder among Black people, such as conscious or unconscious bias in the healthcare system, stigma around mental health care among Black communities, and difficulty accessing care.