Bipolar Depression

Bipolar depression is the depressed phase of bipolar disorder, also known as manic-depressive disorder, a mood disorder which results in drastic mood swings ranging from manic phases to depressive ones (Ford-Martin, 1999). In the United States, almost two million people suffer from bipolar disorder, which usually has its onset in adolescence through the early twenties. However, because it is a complex disorder, it is often not diagnosed until later in life. Bipolar depression is often misdiagnosed as unipolar depression, and treated with antidepressants, which can actually destabilize bipolar depression (Manisses, 2002).

According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV), there are four categories of bipolar disorder: bipolar I, bipolar II, cyclothymia, and bipolar not-otherwise-specified (NOS) (Ford-Martin, 1999). Bipolar 1 is characterized by a manic phase, which is usually followed by a period of depression. Depression often occurs combined with a manic episode, such as when a patient is depressed, but has racing thoughts. People with bipolar II have major depressive episodes alternating with periods of hypomania, which is milder than the mania of bipolar I patients. These people tend to have low energy, mental retardation and retarded physical processes, and have profound fatigue and hypersomnia, an excessive need for sleep. Patients with cyclothymia have cycling episodes of hypomania

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Category: Psychology - B