ABSTRACT
Halfway through my decade in the ER, I began to see that many of my patients were telling stories about their present and past lives that did not square with the diagnoses they had been given.2 Eventually, I realized that most of those judged to have bipolar disorder and schizophrenia-to cite just the most egregious mistakes-never did meet the criteria set by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV).
