About Bipolar
Bipolar disorder is a disorder that is characterized by extreme changes in mood, from manic to depression. In Between these swings, a person with bipolar disorder may experience periods of a “normal” mood. Manic describes an increasingly restless, energetic, talkative, reckless, powerful, euphoric period. Lavish spending sprees or impulsive risky sex can occur. Then, at some point, this high-flying mood can spiral into something darker — irritation, confusion, anger, feeling trapped. Depression’ describes the opposite mood — sadness, crying, sense of worthlessness, loss of energy, loss of pleasure, sleep problems, and thoughts of suicide. The length of manic or depressive episode varies from person to person, though in most circumstances in order to be diagnosed, a mood must last around at least 5 days.
The severity of the manic episodes is what differentiates between bipolar type one and bipolar type two. Bipolar type two is often misdiagnosed as depression, because during the manic (known in bipolar II as hypomanic) stages, a person with bipolar type two can just feel productive and easy going, and not like anything is wrong. They still have the sever depression episodes, but hypomanic episodes, usually don’t disrupt the persons day to day life, a huge difference from the manic episodes of bipolar type one.
Two lesser known types of bipolar disorder are Bipolar NOS (not otherwise specified) and Cyclothymanic disorder. Symptoms of cyclothymia are
episodes of hypomania and mild depression that occur for at least two years.
In cyclothymia mood swings are less severe than in bipolar disorder, major depression, or mania.
Also these symptoms are persistent, and one can not go more then two months in a row without an episode.
For Bipolar NOS there is no specific criteria that a doctor will use when considering diagnosing you with bipolar disorder not otherwise specified. Being diagnosed with bipolar NOS means that, at that time, one doesn’t meet the criteria for bipolar type one, two, or cylothmania. Usually, the patient will be re-diagnosed with one of the bipolar diagnosis, or another mental illness, when they came in during an episode.
Here are five reasons from the DSM as to why one would be given a Bipolar NOS diagnosis :
1.You are having symptoms of mania and depression but the episodes are too short to qualify as an actual episode.
2.You’ve had many episodes of hypomania, but you’ve not had a depressive episode.
3.You are having a manic or mixed episode but you were previously diagnosed with a psychotic disorder or schizophrenia.
4.You’ve had symptoms of hypomania and depression, but they don’t last long enough to qualify as cyclothymic disorder.
5.It looks like you have bipolar disorder but your doctor thinks your symptoms might be caused by drugs, alcohol or a general medical condition
This is just a basic run down of the disorder, and we highly encourage everyone, whether officially diagnosed with BD or not, to do their own research. Knoweldge is power!
