Bipolar Response

A reader posted a question on our Facebook site asking about the difference between bipolar I disorder and bipolar II disorder. I have not yet gotten to that point in the series but I will answer briefly as well as I can.

What I have been talking about so far is what we call bipolar I disorder which has previously been called manic - depressive illness. Bipolar II disorder is a cycling mood disorder in which there are episodes of depression, including chronic depression with episodes of what we refer to as hypomania or "under mania". These are periods in which there are manic like symptoms but not of the severity of full blown mania and not resulting in so many life destructive events. Most people with bipolar II disorder spend the majority of their time in depression.

I hope this helps answer the question and we will discuss this more in detail on a later post.