What's the difference between Bipolar Depression and normal Depression?
My psychologist has taken me off my anti-depressant because it's lack of help. He are considering putting me on a different medicine, but when my medical team (group of doctors) got together to discuss my health, one of them brought up that I may have been misdiagnosed and I may have Bipolar Depression. I'm really unsure of the differences and there doesn't seem to be that much information out there to compare the two.. any help?
Bipolar means your moods can go up and down. You can be really happy one day and be super sad the next. Just depression, you are sad all the time with no mania. Here's a link that I found helpful https://psychcentral.com/lib/whats-the-difference-between-bipolar-disorder-and-depression/000906
This isn't Bipolar Disorder, It's Bipolar Depression. My psychologist said they are different things...
I'm pretty sure it's the same thing. But I could be wrong. Just means you can be manic. I would ask your doctor why. That's what he's there for :)
Depression is when you are depressed for most/all of the time and bipolar depression is that you are sometimes fine and there are times you are depressed. It reminds on bipolar disorder but it's not the same.
Wasn't Unipolar depression?
I have that. Basically means that you get depressed without any motives in your life, only because of brain chemistry. It also means that you get several depressive episodes in your life. Like people with bipolar disorder that have either manic/neutral/depressive episodes, people with unipolar depression have neutral/depressive ones.
Hopefully that helped. :)
I own a DSM-5 and there is no diagnosis of bipolar depression. So unless this is a really new term in the field, I believe you misheard your therapist. There is unipolar depression andbiopolar disorder I and II. There are other similar disorders but they sound very different from "bipolar depression".If somehow this is a new concept, it probably means symptoms of mania but not full blown mania.
When I was hospitalized the psychiatrist diagnosed me bipolar depressed but also called it bipolar I or Bipolar II, I can't remember. Of course my regular psychiatrist changed my diagnosis when I got out, but that's the only time I've heard that diagnosis. From my understanding bipolar depression is where you are depressed and you have a different type of mania where you are not manic in the sense of being hyper but more restless, with racing thoughts. If you're hospitalized in the U.S. they are quick to diagnose you bipolar I or II just to bill your insurance, so be weary if this is where you received that diagnosis. You may truly be just depressed and not have "bipolar depression". Bipolar depression is a crap cop out diagnosis to me, anyway, because I don't get manic and I don't believe being anxious or having racing thoughts should qualify you as having Bipolar. My College Psych Professor said Bipolar is the most incorrectly diagnosed disorder in the DSM.