Bi-Polar Disorder, also known as Manic-Depressive Illness, is a lifelong, potentially fatal illness often characterized by distressing and disruptive mood swings from high (manic) to low (depressed) states.
If manic and depressive symptoms overlap for a period of time, this state is called a "mixed" episode. There are two types of Bi-Polar Disorder. With Bi-Polar I Disorder, a person must have experienced at least one episode of mania; in Bi-Polar II Disorder, a person experiences hypomania (a milder form of mania with less severe symptoms) and depression.
There are three common patterns of symptoms in people with bipolar disorder. Each "type" is simply a name we use to describe a particular pattern of symptoms.
Bipolar I: the patient has mixed or manic episodes and almost always has depression as well.
Bipolar II: the patient has hypomanic and depressive episodes, not full manic or mixed episodes.
Rapid–cycling bipolar disorder: in any combination of manic, hypomanic, mixed or depressive episodes.The patient has at least four episodes each year, Can be difficult to treat.
Like all mental disorders, diagnosing bipolar disorder can be difficult as there is no simple test for it. People seek help more often for depression but sometimes do not talk to their doctors about their episodes of mania.
Patients need to meet with a doctor and talk about: current symptoms, past symptoms, similar symptoms in the family history. The doctor will also do a physical examination, to rule out the possibility that there is another illness causing the symptoms. In practice guidelines and a scoring method are used to determine whether there the patient has the disorder.
(source: patient health international 2006)
