Join us as psychiatrists Dr. Julie Anderson and Dr. Sean Stanley unravel the complexities of Bipolar Disorder. In the second and final part of our series on mood disorders, they discuss the diagnosis of Bipolar disorder, including the distinctions between Bipolar I and II,  as well as pharmacologic and psychosocial therapies for patients with bipolar disorder.

This discussion of Bipolar disorder is ideal for medical learners, physicians, and anyone curious about the subject. We will be discussing manic, hypomanic, and major depressive episodes in our discussion of Bipolar Disorders.

Full diagnostic criteria for those episodes can be found in Section 2 of the DSM-V under Bipolar and related disorders.

References:

1. The Sydney Bipolar Screener

2. VVA/DOD Clinical Practice Guidelines for Management of Bipolar Disorder

3. National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health (UK). Bipolar Disorder: The NICE Guideline on the Assessment and Management of Bipolar Disorder in Adults, Children and Young People in Primary and Secondary Care. London: The British Psychological Society and The Royal College of Psychiatrists; 2014 Sep. PMID: 29718639. (2014, some updates 2023) 

4. Yatham LN, Kennedy SH, Parikh SV, Schaffer A, Bond DJ, Frey BN, Sharma V, Goldstein BI, Rej S, Beaulieu S, Alda M, MacQueen G, Milev RV, Ravindran A, O'Donovan C, McIntosh D, Lam RW, Vazquez G, Kapczinski F, McIntyre RS, Kozicky J, Kanba S, Lafer B, Suppes T, Calabrese JR, Vieta E, Malhi G, Post RM, Berk M. Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments (CANMAT) and International Society for Bipolar Disorders (ISBD) 2018 guidelines for the management of patients with bipolar disorder. Bipolar Disord. 2018 Mar;20(2):97-170.