Exposing the Bipolar Disorder Quiz for an Acceptable Examination Instead
Posted: Monday, December 29, 2008
by Trevor Price
Unfortunately, there's no simple, quick and easy test to diagnose people suspected of experiencing bipolar disorder. In fact, this ailment isn't even a single disorder. Rather, it's a term used to describe a number of mood disorders that are identified by mania or manic episodes, bouts of depression, and possibly psychotic episodes. One of or all the above can be present, making a simple and easy test for the disorder difficult to put together.
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is typically based on the patient's own assessment of their behavior or reports from family, friends or peers. These are then paired with the signs observed by nurses, psychologists or other medical professionals.
To be diagnosed, an individual must meet a certain list of requirements.
Psychological Tests to Check for Possible Onslaught
A doctor may ask a series of questions that pit a patient's symptoms or behavior patterns against a list of criteria for diagnosing the disorder. However, there is no single bipolar test used by psychiatric professionals the world over. There are also no biological tests to check for its presence.
However, there are certain tests that should be run on a patient before diagnosing them as a way of ruling out potential medical illnesses which may be causing mental or psychological symptoms. These include testing for TSH levels, doing a full blood count and conducting a brain scan to check for possible tumors or lesions.
While there are no biological tests to diagnose bipolar disorder, there have been recent developments in brain scanning for common patterns. In 2005, the Mayo Clinic announced that it was working on a method which uses magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) to observe and identify specific patterns of metabolic activity that are common to afflicted patients.
Misdiagnosis of Symptoms
Because there are no biological tests for bipolar disorder, it can often be misdiagnosed. In fact, many patients are often diagnosed with depression, addiction, schizophrenia or other afflictions before finally being correctly assessed with bipolar disorder.
Classification of the Disorder
Once diagnosed through various clinical and psychological tests, bipolar disorders are often classified into one of four groupings. These include:
Bipolar I: In Bipolar I, a patient must have experienced at least one manic episode. This manic episode is not required to be accompanied by or followed by an episode of depression.
Bipolar II: Bipolar II is often used to classify patients that have severe and major depressive episodes, but fairly minor or hypomanic ones.
Cyclothymia: Cyclothymia is used to classify patients that have hypomanic episodes (episodes of mania that do not affect their day-to-day life) and minor depressive episodes.
Bipolar-NOS: Bipolar NOS stands for Not Otherwise Specified. It is a blanket term that doctors use to diagnose a patient as bipolar, but without a classification. For Bipolar-NOS, a traditional bipolar test or interview may not be as effective for diagnosing the patient.
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