Understanding Bipolar Disorder

Dr. Hanson and Forrest continue their ongoing series on “Who Am I” by focusing on a subset of the depressed mood states which we covered in our last episode in this series: bipolar disorder, formerly known as “manic depressive.”

This episode explores:

What distinguishes bipolar disorder from “typical” clinical depression?The different types of bipolar disorder.The range of symptoms that might accompany bipolar.What bipolar disorder “looks like” in an everyday sense.

Depression and depressed mood are major problems for many people, and the material we’re going to get into today will be sensitive in nature. If things start to feel uncomfortable, feel free to skip around or turn it off altogether. As with all of the episodes in this series, please remember that bipolar disorder is best diagnosed by a trained mental health professional.

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Timestamps:

01:30: What distinguishes bipolar disorder from clinical depression?

05:07: Is there a reason why the name “Manic Depressive” was changed to “Bipolar Disorder”?

06:59: What are some of the diagnostic criteria for a manic episode?

14:46: The different kinds of bipolar disorder.

23:36: What bipolar disorder looks like day-to-day.