Unspecified Bipolar and Related Disorder

This diagnosis is similar to specified bipolar and related disorder. It’s used when a doctor doesn’t have enough information to make a specific diagnosis, such as in an emergency room.

How Common Is Bipolar Disorder?

Studies suggest there is a lifetime prevalence rate of about 0.6% for bipolar type I and 0.4% for bipolar type II. The overall prevalence for all types of bipolar disorders is 2.4%.

Misdiagnosis Is Common

Of all the mental health disorders, bipolar is perhaps one of the most commonly misdiagnosed. Sometimes it’s not clear which one of the types of bipolar disorder a person’s symptoms align with.

Bipolar disorders can also be difficult to diagnose because they share symptoms with so many other conditions. These mental health conditions often get mistaken for bipolar disorder:

• Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): both disorders come with overlapping symptoms.  However, while ADHD is a chronic condition present since childhood, bipolar disorders are episodic. Additionally, bipolar disorders primarily affect mood, whereas ADHD impacts attention and behaviour.
• Borderline personality disorder (BPD): A main difference between these conditions is the length of the mood swings. Bipolar mood cycles are persistent and can last for weeks or months, whereas BPD mood swings may last a few hours or days and are generally reactive to interpersonal situation. 
• Clinical depression: While bipolar disorders can include symptoms of depression, major depressive disorder is unipolar, meaning there is no mania or “high.” Doctors may initially misdiagnose bipolar disorder as clinical depression because hypomanic or manic episodes have yet to emerge or have gone unnoticed.
• Schizoaffective disorder: Psychotic symptoms can be part of manic and depressive episodes in bipolar disorder. In schizoaffective disorder, psychotic symptoms are also present independent of a clear mood episode.

Being correctly diagnosed is an important step toward getting the right treatment. The most important thing you can do to increase your chances of receiving an accurate diagnosis is to tell a doctor about all the symptoms you’ve been experiencing.

Sign of Bipolar Disorder in Men

Causes and Risk Factors

The exact causes of different types of bipolar disorders are not entirely understood, but genetic factors are believed to play a significant role. Research suggests that certain risk factors can increase the likelihood that a person will develop bipolar disorder, including:

• Genetics
• Childhood trauma
• Perinatal infections
• Difficult life events
• Cannabis use
• Substance use disorders
• Other mental health conditions
• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)

Treatment for Different Types of Bipolar Disorder

Treatment for any bipolar disorder generally involves medications and some form of psychotherapy. The specific treatment your doctor recommends may vary depending on the type of bipolar disorder you are diagnosed with.

Medications

Medication is the key to stabilizing most bipolar disorders. However, the type of medication a doctor prescribes depends on your symptoms and their severity.

Psychotherapy

Depending on your situation, psychotherapy might also be necessary. In fact, research shows that psychotherapy combined with medication can be more beneficial than medication alone.

Psychotherapy can help you better understand and cope with your illness. It can also help you improve your ability to manage relationships with others.

For about a half-century, psychiatry divided mood disorders into cases of unipolar depression, an illness characterized by only depressive symptoms, and bipolar disorders, in which patients suffer depressive episodes but also manic, hypomanic, or mixed states.

“Soft” bipolar disorders seem to challenge this way of thinking; many of these patients have an illness dominated by depressive symptoms with only the slightest colourings of mania. Sometimes, a family history of bipolar disorder is the only hint. More frequently, they have brief periods of elevated mood that they don’t feel are particularly abnormal but that, when examined more closely, bear the hallmarks of hypomania: the decreased need for sleep, increased energy, uncharacteristic overconfidence, and loss of inhibitions. They can have periods of agitation and irritability that last only a few hours and possibly represent mild mixed states. Below psychiatrist Tracy Marks explains how the spectrum of diagnosis came about.