Is Bipolar II a valid mental disorder, or the latest diagnosis du jour?
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 at
8:28 am
When you read a description of Bipolar Disorder, Type II, it reads remarkably like the human condition. It sounds more or less like a personality type, not a pathology. And what counts as a ‘hypomanic’ episode, anyway? A good day? It seems so arbitrary and subjective to me.
I once had a therapist who told me that mood swings and bipolar II are the same thing. I think too many shrinks are just overpaid hacks spouting unscientific garbage.
Tagged with: Bipolar • Diagnosis • Disorder • jour • Latest • mental • valid
Filed under: Bipolar Diagnosis
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God, if I could be hypo manic all the time I would. But for me and many others with Bipolar Disorder (I have bipolar 1 though) a hypo mania will evolve into a full blown mania, not good. Bipolar 2 is so designated because it is different than bipolar 1…. Bipolar 1 has the biggest extremes and I think we tend to be manic more than depressed. Folks with Bipolar 2 tend to have more of the depression, debilitating depression, and their hypo manias are rare. So look at it this way… Bipolar 1′s sit at the high end of the pole (which includes psychosis) and the 2′s sit at the bottom end of the pole……. though both have the ability to swing.
A lot of psychology is arbitrary and subjective. It irritates me to see a lot of people self-diagnose themselves as bipolar without knowing the true symptomology. Mood swings do not count as being bi-polar.
Do I think it exists? Yes. Do I think it’s often confused for a part of the human condition? Most definitely.
Certainly real. A less severe version of bipolar. For the record hypomanic is a good day for most of us with bipolar. Unfortunately few of us stay there very long. Some of this does seem arbitrary but a good psychiatrist can tell you the difference. Plus, don’t believe everything you read on the net. There are distinct differences like bp I has to have had a clear pattern of manic cycling and at least one psychotic episode. bp ii is without the psychosis and much less severe cycling.