The Proper Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder
Oct 3rd, 2008 by Dane Masters
Bipolar disorder, also known as manic depression, is often hard to recognize and diagnose, because the symptoms are seen in various other psychological disorders too. But, a primary symptom obvious in bipolar disorder patients is mood and energy fluctuation, which results in disruptive sleeping patterns, lack of concentration and interest loss in activities at various times.
There are many sub-types of the bipolar disorder. These subtypes of bipolar condition are phases of constant change, and a person might remain in one subtype or keep fluctuating between different subtypes.
As clinically diagnosed, there are currently four types of bipolar illness. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV-TR, the method used to diagnose the disorder and other mental diseases, details four categories of bipolar disorder. These categories are Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Cyclothymia, and Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.
For a diagnosis of Bipolar I disorder, there must be a manic or mixed episode, but a depressive episdoe is not required for diagnosis. Though it is not required, a depressive episode frequently occurs.
If a patient displays at least a single episode each of hypomania and depression, then the condition is diagnosed as Bipolar II.
Cyclothymic Disorder disagnosis needs a lot more symptomatic behavior conditions, such as several hypomaniac incidents, and depression episodes which cannot be fully categorized under Depression (the mental condition). In Cyclothymics, the mental condition is a low-grade cycle, which seems like mood swings to a casual observer, but is in fact an underlying version of the bipolar disorder, which disrupts normal routing for the patient.
For those individuals who seem to be suffering from some type of bipolar disorder as characterized by mood swings with highs and lows, but the patient doesn’t meet the criteria for one of the subtypes outlined above, he or she may have Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified.
The most commonly mistaken diagnosis for cases of bipolar condition is clinical depression. They are usually wrongly diagnosed and people related to the patient like family, friends, need to be inquired for presence of hypo or hyper maniac episodes.
