Is there any difference between bipolar disorder and unipolar depression?
If someone has already experienced an episode of mania or hypomania, the diagnosis is most likely some kind of bipolar disorder. In case of hypomania it may also be cyclothymia. If it’s impossible to determine whether the person in depression experienced the episodes before, there are some things that can help diagnose bipolarity. People diagnosed with unipolar depression are not likely to display certain symptoms or have some conditions; so if they do, the chances are the diagnosis has been inaccurate: – Sleeping too much when depressed – Bipolar disorder in close relatives – Eating too much when depressed – Ability to laugh and joke when depressed – History of frequent depressive episodes – Sensitivity to rejection – History of taking lithium or being diagnosed with bipolar syndrome, except for the cases when it was necessary to take lithium to potentiate antidepressants However, it doesn’t mean that a person with unipolar depression cannot sleep or eat more than usual. All these sig
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