Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder
Bipolar disorder is difficult to detect. For some people, it may take 10 years or more to be diagnosed because of its dual nature. Bipolar disorder shares many signs and symptoms of other psychiatric illnesses such as anxiety disorders and schizophrenia, thereby complicating the diagnosis.
There are no laboratory tests to detect this disorder. However, an assessment is done, which involves gathering information about the patient’s history and a thorough physical examination is conducted to exclude the presence of any medical illness.
A questionnaire is conducted called Mood Disorder Questionnaire or MDQ. This MDQ is a checklist that helps a doctor to identify bipolar related symptoms.1
Diagnosisof bipolar disorder involves the following:
Psychiatric History
Details of the current and past symptoms of the patient and of immediate family members and relatives should be evaluated. Bipolar disorder is derived from a combination of genetic factors and life experiences. Therefore, it is easy to rule out, if there is a family history of depression or bipolar disorder.
Complete Medical History and Physical Exam
This is conducted to rule out any form of physical illnesses that may be producing or mimicking the symptoms of bipolar disorder. AIDS, a brain tumor or head injury, diabetes, epilepsy, lupus, multiple sclerosis, a salt imbalance or thyroid disorder can produce bipolar-like symptoms.
It is also important to know whether the patient suffers from mania or hypomania. When only symptoms of depression are present, it is known as unipolar depression. Many people with bipolar disorder do not know that they are suffering from it. Some do not get treated because they are ashamed of what they feel, while others are incorrectly diagnosed with other illnesses, such as depression, anxiety or schizophrenia.Without appropriate treatment, the disorder could become more difficult to treat.
Category-Based Diagnosis
Bipolar I: In this condition, the patient shows mixed episodes of depression and mania.
Bipolar II: In this condition, the patient shows hypomanic episodes and at least one major depressive episode.
Cyclothymia: This involves the presence or history of hypomanic episodes intermingled with depression episodes.
Next page: Treatment of Bipolar disorder
Written by: Healthplus24 team
Date last updated: August 10, 2011