What is Bipolar 2 Disorder

Bipolar 2 disorder is usually a much milder variety of the known bipolar 1, but can be just as damaging and dangerous every other of the bipolar disorder versions.

Patients that are suffering from bipolar 2 disorder, often tend to cycle at the same frequency as people that have bipolar 1, however the intensity of the mania appear to be lesser, and the patient will often not be considered as manic by himself or others around him.

This is what makes bipolar 2 disorder dangerous and so very deadly, as the illness can go undetected for years on end. With bipolar 2 disorder, the patient will still experience deep and crippling depressions, and in many cases their physician will diagnose them with a moderate depression and prescribe antidepressants to them.

After some time on the anti-depressants, a bipolar 2 disorder patient will see a sudden and raging alteration of signs and symptoms when the depression disappears and is replaced by an powerful manic state caused from the anti-depressants.

Generally, a bipolar 2 disorder patient is likely to see periods of steady states in their mood between the depressive and manic times, but with antidepressant medicine in their system, they will often catapult straight into full state of mania.

This state is often referred to as a mixed state or rapid cycling, and it will if left untreated lead the patient into a new and potentially even deeper depression, once the mania subsides.

Simplest way to diagnose bipolar 2 disorder is usually to make a precise "mood map" of the patient spanning a longer period of years. And sometimes with the help of some people that have been around the sufferer as it is often them who've seen the symptoms and moodiness in the patient.

But in the end, it is the patient himself who must realize that something is of and that this might be more than a reoccurring depression.

The trick with bipolar 2 disorder is to focus on the "feel good" periods and assess if they have manic tendencies or not.

By Max Canchola