MIMS guide to bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2013

Background: DSM-IV criteria for mania/hypomania overlap considerably. We sought to examine the utility of a model differentiating bipolar I and II disorders by weighting the presence or absence of psychosis during manic/hypomanic episodes as opposed to simply weighting symptom severity. Methods: A set of 632 patients with a so-assigned clinical bipolar I or II disorder diagnosis contributed to the principal analyses, and a subset of 210 was included in a comparative analyses of DSM-assigned diagnoses. We also examined the impact of duration of highs on symptom patterns and the extent to which depressive episodes were psychotic or non-psychotic melancholic in type. Results: There were no group differences for bipolar I and II patients (clinical or DSM groups) by age, gender, age of onset or age of formal bipolar diagnosis. Clinically assigned bipolar I patients returned higher severity scores than bipolar II patients on manic/hypomanic symptoms, but such differentiation was limited. Clinically-assigned bipolar I patients were more likely than bipolar II patients to be diagnosed with psychotic depression, and had lower rates of non-melancholic depression. Duration of highs had some impact on the phenomenology of highs, but not on the phenomenology of depression. Limitations: We cannot establish the degree to which clinicians validly differentiated those with bipolar disorder, and accurately judged the lifetime presence of psychotic features and of depressive subtype differentiation. Conclusions: Findings support the utility of an alternative model to DSM-IV in weighting the respective presence or absence of psychotic symptoms during highs in differentiating bipolar I and II disorders.

Current neuropharmacology, 2016

Episode duration, recurrence rates, and time spent in manic and depressive phases of bipolar disorder (BD) is not well defined for subtypes of the disorder. We reviewed the course, timing, and duration of episodes of mania and depression among 1130 clinically treated DSM-IV-TR BD patients of various types, and compared duration and rates as well as total proportion of time in depressive versus manic episodes during 16.7 average years at risk. As expected, episodes of depressions were much longer than manias, but episode-duration did not differ among BD diagnostic types: I, II, with mainly mixed-episodes (BD-Mx), or with psychotic features (BD-P). Recurrence rates (episodes/year) and proportion of time in depression and their ratios to mania were highest in BD-II and BD-Mx subjects, with more manias/year in psychotic and BD-I subjects. In most BD-subtypes, except with psychotic features, there was more time in depressive than manic morbidity, owing mainly to longer depressive than ma...

Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine

Bipolar Disorders, 2008

Objectives: To investigate whether the course of bipolar disorder (BD) type II is more depressive than that of BD I, and, if so, to explore the underlying factors that cause this difference.Methods: In a prospective, naturalistic study of 191 secondary care psychiatric in‐ and outpatients diagnosed in an acute phase of BD I or II, 160 patients (85.1%) were followed for 18 months. Using a life chart, the exact timing of symptom states in follow‐up was examined. Differences between BD I (n = 75) and II (n = 85) in duration of index phase and episode, time to full remission and recurrence, and time in any mood episode were investigated.Results: Patients with BD II spent a higher proportion of time ill (47.5% versus 37.7%; p = 0.02) and in depressive symptom states (58.0% versus 41.7%; p = 0.003) than BD I patients. This was a result of the higher proportion (61.7% versus 48.6%; p = 0.03) and mean number (1.69 versus 1.11; p = 0.006) of depressive illness phases in BD II, rather than...

Revista de Psiquiatría y Salud Mental (English Edition), 2014

The DSM-5 and ICD-11 classifications, the latter still under development, are aimed at harmonizing the diagnoses of mental disorders. A critical review is presented in the issues that can converge or separate both classifications regarding bipolar disorders, and those conditions-included in depressive disorders-with special relevance for bipolar (e.g. major depressive episode). The main novelties include the incorporation of dimensional parameters to assess the symptoms, as well as the sub-threshold states in the bipolar spectrum, the consideration of new course specifiers such as the mixed symptoms, the elimination of mixed episodes, and a more restrictive threshold for the diagnosis of hypo/mania. The most noticeable points of convergence are the inclusion of bipolar II disorder in ICD-11 and the additional requirement of an increase in activity, besides mood elation or irritability, for the diagnosis of hypo/mania in both classifications. The main differences are, most likely keeping the mixed depression and anxiety disorder diagnostic category, maintaining bereavement as exclusion criterion for the depressive episode, and maintaining the mixed episode diagnosis in bipolar disorder in the forthcoming ICD-11. Conclusion: Since DSM-5 has already been published, changes in the draft of ICD-11, or ongoing changes in DSM-5.1 will be necessary to improve the harmonization of psychiatric diagnoses.

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 2012

To assess the clinical validity of individual DSM-IV criteria for hypomania. In an international sample of 5,635 patients with major depressive episodes (Bridge Study), DSM-IV criteria for hypomania (stem questions, number and quality of symptoms, duration and exclusion criteria) were systematically assessed and their validity analysed on the basis of clinical data including family history, course, and other clinical characteristics. Three stem questions for hypomania, irritability, elevated mood and the added question of increased activity, showed comparable validity. The results support the current DSM-IV requirement for a higher symptom threshold (4 of 7 hypomanic symptoms) in cases of irritable mood. Longer durations of hypomanic episodes were associated with higher scores on all validators. The results did not support the DSM-IV durational requirements for hypomanic episodes (4 days) and manic episodes (7 days). Brief hypomanic episodes of 1, 2 or 3 days were valid and would meet validity criteria for inclusion. The three exclusion criteria in DSM-IV (hypomania due to the use of antidepressants or of other substances, or to other medical conditions) were found to exclude patients with bipolar depression and should therefore not be retained. These results support several revisions of the DSM-IV concept of hypomanic episodes: specifically, the inclusion of increased activity as a gate question, the inclusion of 1 or 2 to 3-day episodes and the elimination of all exclusion criteria.

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2020

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Manic episodes that are not caused by drugs or other substances and depressive symptoms including despair, withdrawal, and uncontrollable crying, are characteristic of Bipolar Disorder I as put forth by the DSM-5, the newest edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). During the manic portion of this disorder, a client might exhibit an almost obsessive compulsion for promiscuous sex or over-spending and may become violent. When a client or patient displays this out-of-control behavior with little regard for consequences, it makes the manic part of Bipolar Disorder easy to diagnose as it is flagrant to family members and those that are daily with him or her. These behaviors will likely not be displayed in a clinical setting, and the information will not be volunteered by the patient. Therefore, other means of investigation will be needed such as interviews with people around the client, especially family members and standardized tests to help rule out other disorders such as personality disorders (Rahimi, Pmorrahimi, Ahmadpanah, Shamsaei, and Torabian, 2014). The disorder has both the markers of major depressive disorder and also these instances of negatively energetic outbursts/incidents which is why it is unique from a depressive disorder which does not have this flip-side. The cases outlined below are from case files and experiences but names and pertinent identifying facts must remain anonymous for the safety and confidentiality of the families involved. They are real cases with real people who have suffered either with Bipolar disorder themselves or as caretakers/domestic occupants with a BD subject.

Journal of Affective Disorders, 2006

Background: Presently it is a hotly debated issue whether unipolar and bipolar disorders are categorically distinct or lie on a spectrum. We used the ongoing Ravenna-San Diego Collaboration database to examine this question with respect to major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar II (BP-II). Methods: The study population in FB's Italian private practice setting comprised consecutive 650 outpatients presenting with major depressive episode (MDE) and ascertained by a modified version of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV. Differential assignment of patients into MDD versus BP-II was made on the basis of discrete hypomanic episodes outside the timeframe of an MDE. In addition, hypomanic signs and symptoms during MDE (intra-MDE hypomania) were systematically assessed and graded by the Hypomania Interview Guide (HIG). The frequency distributions of the HIG total scores in each of the MDD, BP-II and the combined entire sample were plotted using the kernel density estimate. Finally, bipolar family history (BFH) was investigated by structured interview (the Family History Screen). Results: There were 261 MDD and 389 BP-II. As in the previous smaller samples, categorically defined BP-II compared with MDD had significantly earlier age at onset, higher rates of familial bipolarity (mostly BP-II), history of MDE recurrences (≥ 5), and atypical features. However, examining hypomania scores dimensionally, whether we examined the MDD, BP-II, or the combined sample, kernel density estimate distribution of these scores had a normal-like shape (i.e., no bimodality). Also, in the combined sample of MDE, we found a dose-response relationship between BFH loading and intra-MDE hypomania measured by HIG scores. Limitations: Although the interviewer (FB) could not be blind to the diagnostic status of his private patients, the systematic rigorous interview process in a very large clinical population minimized any unintended biases. Conclusions: Unlike previous studies that have examined the number of DSM-IV hypomanic signs and symptoms both outside and during MDE, the present analyses relied on the more precise hypomania scores as measured by the HIG. The finding of a doseresponse relationship between BFH and HIG scores in the sample at large strongly suggests a continuity between BP-II and MDD. Our data indicate that even in those clinically depressed patients without past hypomanic episodes (so-called "unipolar" MDD), such scores are normally rather than bimodally distributed during MDE. Moreover, the absence of a 'zone of rarity' in the distribution of hypomanic scores in the combined total, MDD and BP-II MDE samples, indicates that MDD and BP-II exist on a dimensional spectrum. From a nosologic perspective, our data are contrary to what one would expect from a categorical unipolar-bipolar distinction. In practical terms, intra-MDE hypomania and BFH, especially in recurrent MDD, represent strong indicators of bipolarity.

European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, 2013

The definitions of bipolar-I (BP-I) and bipolar-II (BP-II) disorders are currently under revision by the APA and by the WHO. We provide evidence of a revised set of criteria for bipolar disorders and major depressive disorder (MDD) which could serve to strengthen the construct and predictive validity of both disorders and enable more incisive studies of treatments and courses of both disorders. In the diagnostic Bridge Study of 5,635 patients with major depressive episodes from 18 countries (Europe, North Africa, Near East and Far East) leading psychiatrists in each country assessed a pre-specified group of symptoms, illness course, family history and duration of episodes; these data allowed tests of several definitions of bipolarity. The primary revised specifier diagnosis of BP-I disorder included manic episodes based on an additional category A criterion (increased activity/energy) and did not apply any exclusion criteria. The revised BP-II disorders included hypomanic episodes of 1-3 days. Family history and illness course validators (history of mania/hypomania among first degree relatives, 2 or more lifetime episodes and first symptoms having occurred before age 30) discriminated clearly between patients with bipolar-I or bipolar-II disorders meeting bipolarity specifier criteria and those with MDD. Specifier definitions provided better discrimination between MDD and the two bipolar subgroups. Patterns of concurrent comorbidities also differed significantly between patients meeting criteria for MDD compared with those meeting bipolar specifier criteria. Comorbidity patterns differed between bipolar-I and bipolar-II patients. This study provides evidence for the validity of modified (specifier) BP-I and BP-II definitions that incorporate illness course and family history which reduce ambiguities of major depressive episodes between bipolar-I and bipolar-II disorders and MDD. Keywords Bipolar-II Á Bipolar-I Á Hypomania Á Definitions Á Validity Á Comorbidity The study was conducted for the Bridge Study Group.