Bipolar Disorder General Information

Bipolar

The following is the Wikipedia definition of Bipolar:

Bipolar disorder, also known as bipolar affective disorder, manic-depressive disorder, or manic depression, is a mental illness classified by psychiatrists as a mood disorder. Individuals with bipolar disorder experience episodes of a frenzied mood, known as mania, alternating with episodes of depression.

 

Bipolar I Disorder

The following is the Wikipedia definition of Bipolar I Disorder:

Bipolar I Disorder (BP-I; pronounced “type one bipolar disorder”) is a bipolar spectrum disorder characterized by the occurrence of at least one manic or mixed episode. Most patients also, at other times, have one or more depressive episodes, and all experience a hypomanic stage before progressing to full mania.

[Bipolar I Disorder] is a type of bipolar disorder, and conforms to the classic concept of manic-depressive illness, which can include psychosis during mood episodes.

 

Bipolar II Disorder

The following is the Wikipedia definition of Bipolar II Disorder:

Bipolar II Disorder (BP-II; pronounced “type two bipolar disorder”) is a bipolar spectrum disorder characterized by at least one episode of hypomania and at least one episode of major depression. Diagnosis for bipolar II disorder requires that the individual must never have experienced a full manic episode (unless it was caused by an antidepressant medication; otherwise one manic episode meets the criteria for bipolar I disorder).

 

Difference between Type I and Type II Bipolar

The difference between bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder is that the latter requires that the individual must never have experienced a full manic or mixed-manic episode – only less severe hypomanic episode(s). People with bipolar I disorder will experience one or more manic episodes that includes psychosis.

 

Hypo-Mania

Here are some symptoms from PsychCentral:

• Inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
• Decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
• More talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
• Flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
• Distractibility (e.g., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
• Increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
• Excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., the person engages in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)

 

Depression

It is not always easy to acknowledge or recognize that someone is depressed, but here is a list of symptoms from Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH):

• changes in appetite and weight
• sleep problems
• loss of interest in work, hobbies, people or sex
• withdrawal from family members and friends
• feeling useless, hopeless, excessively guilty, pessimistic or having low self-esteem
• agitation or feeling slowed down
• irritability fatigue
• trouble concentrating, remembering and making decision
• crying easily, or feeling like crying but being not able to
• thoughts of suicide (which should always be taken seriously)
• a loss of touch with reality, hearing voices (hallucinations) or having strange ideas

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  Hypo Mania

  

  Depression

  

  Wikipedia

  

  Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

  

  PsychCentral