According to the National Institute of Mental Health, in the United States, bipolar disorders affect approximately 5.7 million adults per year. Bipolar II is a mood disorder with cycles of depressed and hypomanic states. In bipolar II, the person's elevated mood states are not as extreme as they are in bipolar I.
Depressed Part of Bipolar II
Depression is one pole of the bipolar II disorder. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, that part of the cycle is when a person suffers from a major depressive episode. Major depression means a person suffers from a depressed mood almost every day for a two-week time period. He may also isolate himself from others, have a readily identifiable gain or loss of weight, lose interest in his regular activities (including sex), have too much or too little sleep, be less able to concentrate, and feel worthless or hopeless.
Hypomanic Part of Bipolar II
At the other pole of bipolar II, the person has a hypomanic episode, as defined in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Hypomanic means the person has an unusually elevated mood, or is irritable, for at least four days. Hypomania occurs only when the mood is very different from the person's ordinary nondepressed state. She may have "inflated self-esteem," need less sleep, be more talkative, be easily distracted, and behave to excess or recklessness in seeking pleasurable activity.
Diagnosing Bipolar II
Bipolar disorder is only diagnosed when both manic and depressive episodes have occurred. A person does not suffer from bipolar II if a manic or mixed mood episode has occurred. A manic episode is more severe, marked, and may last longer than a hypomanic episode. If the person has manic episodes, he would be diagnosed with bipolar I.
Indications From Research on Bipolar II
There is not as much research about bipolar II compared with other major mental disorders. According to Synopsis of Psychiatry, bipolar II may begin earlier in life than bipolar I. People who have bipolar II are at greater risk for attempted or completed suicide than those with either major depression alone, or bipolar I.
Misconception about Bipolar II
Bipolar II's hypomanic episode must be diagnosed only if it does not cause a clinically recognized "significant impairment" in the patient's social or occupational functioning. Thus for bipolar II, unlike the mania in bipolar I, the patient may be diagnosed during or after a hypomanic episode even if she is not severely dysfunctional.
References
- "Bipolar;" National Institute of Mental Health
- "Bipolar Disorder;" National Institute of Mental Health
- "Synopsis of Psychiatry, 9th ed."; Benjamin J. Sadock and Virgina A. Sadock; 2009
- "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed."; APA; 2000
