Does bipolar depression look different than unipolar depression?
At the risk of gross over-simplication, it appears many people with bipolar have features of atypical depression, which is more like a vegetative depression than an agitated depression, though there may be elements of animation. Some individuals with atypical or vegetative depressions may in fact have unipolar depression. Nevertheless, a vegetative or atypical state should put clinicians on notice to investigate for bipolar. Unfortunately, this rarely happens, and misdiagnosis is the rule rather than the exception.
