|  | Mental Health | Bipolar Disorder

What Is Bipolar II?

Bipolar II is a mood disorder. Those affected experience moods swings that often cause distress and/or damage in their professional and/or personal lives. Bipolar II is also the type of bipolar disorder most commonly associated with suicide.

  1. Clinical Definition

    • According to the DSM-IV, bipolar II disorder is marked by an episode of depression accompanied by hypomania. Those with bipolar II often have longer episodes of depression than hypomania.

    Signs and Symptoms

    • According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, those in depression may experience several symptoms, such as problems sleeping and suicidal ideation and/or attempts. In hypomania, affected persons may experience extreme euphoria, irritability and racing thoughts; however, they experience them to a milder degree and over a shorter period of time than bipolar persons in mania.

    Diagnosis

    • According to the University of Maryland Medical Center, only about one-third of bipolar persons have been diagnosed correctly. Those with bipolar II are most often misdiagnosed with unipolar depression.

    Treatment

    • Treatment, which may consist of drugs and/or therapy, aims to alleviate symptoms during episodes of mania or depression, reduce episode frequency, reduce or stop phase cycling and help the patient function between episodes.

    Prevention

    • There is no cure for bipolar II. However, treatment at early onset can keep it from getting worse.

Bipolar Disorder - Related Articles