However, the time between episodes tends to decrease as the person gets older, creating a life-long challenge of managing the illness, as well as finding wellness strategies that will sustain periods of stability. Bipolar I is diagnosed when an individual has had one or more episodes of full-blown mania , usually accompanied by one or more Major Depressive Episodes. This is why consultation with the family is absolutelv essential to insure a proper diagnosis . Dr. Frederick Goodwin advises that these early cases should always be given the more hopeful diagnosis of Affective Disorder until the full criteria of schizophrenia are undeniably evident. Also, Bipolar illness carries the highest risk among the major mental illnesses of a person having the co-morbid problem of substance abuse.
Lack of sleep is the most common trigger of mania.
It's a good idea to educate your ill family member about this feature of the illness . Once the manic episode is fully underway, family members will find it very difficult to get their ill relative into treatment. In Bipolar II, depressive episodes are the predominant diagnostic feature. These period of hypomania often do not cause clinically significant distress, but people with this form of Bipolar illness are disabled by serious depressive episodes and mood fluctuations. Psychotic symptoms do not appear at all in the hypomanic phases, nor are they as frequent in the depressive phase of the illness.