Self-Management of Depression

Bipolar depression is a depressive episode occurring in context of bipolar disorder. When diagnosing depression, it is imperative to first exclude an underlying bipolar disorder. This is because the medication treatment for bipolar depression differs from that for   “unipolar”  depression. People with bipolar disorder have   manic  or  hypomanic  episodes. These are periods of persistently elevated or irritable mood along with feelings of grandiosity, decreased need for sleep, talkativeness, racing thoughts, increase in sexual drive, increased goal-directed activity, or excessive involvement in risky or impulsive activities. Individuals with bipolar disorder spend around 40% of the symptomatic time being depressed (Judd et al., 2002). Moreover, people with bipolar disorder are more likely to seek help when they are depressed. Therefore, it is not uncommon for bipolar depression to be   misdiagnosed   as unipolar depression or majo...