When it comes to bipolar disorder, some of you may not understand it, and some patients and families often ask in my clinic, “What is bipolar disorder? How do I know that I have bipolar disorder? The so-called bipolar disorder, also known as affective disorder in the past, now also called mood disorder, no matter what is called, the characteristics of this disease is characterized by emotional changes in a class of diseases, the core symptom is the mood (mood) of the ups and downs of the fluctuations, in layman’s terms is the mood of this stage may continue to be unhappy, not happy, decreased interest, fatigue and poor energy, self-blame and self-confidence decline, and even negative suicidal thoughts The state of depression may last for 2 weeks or longer, and gradually recover and improve; or emotions in another period of time, the performance of a super happy mood, too optimistic and conceited, feeling quite good about themselves, think they can even do things that can not be done on a regular basis, talk a lot, like to party, shopping, shopping, spending money is always beyond their budget or ability, super energy, like a chicken blood seem to be at all Feel fatigue, so sleep requirements are also less, sometimes accompanied by the other easy to lose temper, irritability, always angry with others, this state may last a week or more, will also gradually improve, the above two very different mood states in a year or a shorter period of time alternately, the onset of serious impact on work and life, interpersonal relationships, this disease is called bipolar disorder (both depressive phase, but also manic phase ) Some biphasic in the early stage is not easy to be identified, and even clinicians are easily fooled, some of the many patients were once diagnosed as simple depression, the treatment process is more likely to turn manic, giving the impression that it is always better, either depressed or over-excited, in fact, through careful assessment, or bipolar disorder, in the treatment of course, the effect will be better! How to identify the early signs of bipolar disorder from simple depression? There are several points worthy of attention: 1. Depressive episodes that get better too quickly. Perhaps some people wonder, is not the goal to get well quickly? Nonetheless, for the so-called depression, for the treatment, the symptoms are too rapidly improving (even less than 2 weeks most of the symptoms are relieved! This should attract the attention of doctors and patients, if the simple depression, the remission of core symptoms usually in 4-6 weeks, gradually improve, probably have to be about 12 weeks to fully improve, too fast means the risk of bipolar disorder! 2, the patient has a family history, that is, family members, mainly immediate family members with affective disorders, including a history of depression, mania, the risk of this bipolar is also greater 3, adolescence or early youth (between 14-25 years old) may have had a brief period of overly excited mood, overly flexible mind, overly enthusiastic talkative performance, this performance may be very short (3, 4 days), but obviously and the usual behavior 4. Brief episodes of anxiety and depression after or before childbirth, which may not last long (less than 2 weeks?), and then recover naturally. The natural recovery of the depressive episode after the birth of a child should also be of concern, and the risk of current bipolar disorder is also higher 5, depressed patients who also have a history of substance abuse, including a variety of drug abuse, alcohol abuse, alcohol dependence, the probability of such patients being diagnosed with bipolar disorder is close to 50% 6, personality abnormalities Consistent personality expression as exuberant, high-energy, enthusiastic, and extremely temperamental personality, the instability of this personality trait, determine The current depression may be bipolar disorder 7, there are also some so-called refractory depression, the diagnosis of bipolar is more likely, for some difficult to relieve depression is necessarily bipolar disorder, there is still controversy, but at least worth the clinician’s vigilance As patients and family members, if you are diagnosed with depression, or the current existence of depressed mood, should also reflect on whether they are currently or have previously had the above performance If you have more than 2, you should communicate with your specialist and take the initiative to introduce the above manifestations, maybe you will take less detours in the diagnosis and treatment and recover as soon as possible!