Diagnosing various ailments can often be complex and involved. Whether the concern is over a physical disease or an affliction of the mind, it takes background knowledge, a degree of skill, and frequently the assessment of a medical professional to pinpoint an accurate diagnosis.
There is no magic bipolar test to check for Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder is not single disease or disorder, but it’s a blanket term to cover an entire category or range of mood disorders.
These mood disorders are often characterized by manic episodes, elevated moods followed by fatigue and depression, or even psychotic episodes that include hallucinations or delusions.
Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder is typically based on the patient’s own assessment of their behavior or reports from family, friends or peers. These are then paired with the signs observed by nurses, psychologists or other medical professionals.
To be diagnosed, an individual must meet a certain list of requirements.
Psychological Tests to Check for Possible Onslaught
Though a medical professional may administer a psychological bipolar test – weighing the patient’s symptoms against various criteria for diagnosing the disease – there is no single test that can nail an accurate analysis. There is also no biological test for determining whether a patient has the disorder.
The said, doctors may still administer certain physical tests to ensure that a patient’s symptoms are not being caused by a possible medical problem. For example, a brain tumor or lesion can often cause a sudden change in behavior patterns that could be mistaken for bipolar disorder.
And though there are no definitive physical or biological tests for this disorder, there have been advances in the field. The Mayo Clinic is currently developing an MRSI method that seeks out and pinpoints particular patterns of metabolic activity in the brain that are common to people with bipolar mood disorder.
How the Affliction can be Misdiagnosed
Because there are no biological tests for bipolar disorder, it can often be misdiagnosed. In fact, many patients are often diagnosed with depression, addiction, schizophrenia or other afflictions before finally being correctly assessed with bipolar disorder.
How the Condition is Classified
Once diagnosed through various clinical and psychological tests, bipolar disorders are often classified into one of four groupings. These include:
Bipolar I: In this category, the patient has experienced at least one manic episode that may or may not have been followed by a bout of depression.
Bipolar II: Bipolar II is identified by more hypomanic episodes than typical manic expressions. The patient must have also exhibited at least one major depressive incident. Hypomanic episodes are often not as extreme or debilitating as manic versions.
Cyclothymia: Cyclothymia is used to classify patients that have hypomanic episodes (episodes of mania that do not affect their day-to-day life) and minor depressive episodes.
Bipolar-NOS: NOS stands for Not Otherwise Specified and refers to an as-of-yet unclassified bipolar disorder that does not fit into the other three conventional categories of the disorder. For this diagnosis, a traditional psychological bipolar test may not be as effective as a customized evaluation of the patient.