Main description:

It is estimated that as many as fifty percent of patients initially diagnosed with major Unipolar depression (UP, MDD) will subsequently incur a manic episode or discover a past subtle episode and will have had Bipolar depression rather than MDD. The average Bipolar individual suffers with episodic symptoms for ten years before receiving an accurate diagnosis. As many as 16 million individuals in the United States will have a Bipolar episode in their lives, diagnosed or not. With the recognition of these growing numbers of patients with a Bipolar Disorder, it is imperative that patients are diagnosed and treated earlier, accurately and efficiently. Untreated Bipolar usually gets worse.

Bipolar aims to improve recognition, acceptance, and compliance. Dr. C. Raymond Lake applies two different approaches , comprehensive research and case studies, to the understanding of Bipolar Disorders, presenting basic, selected Bipolar data including history, diagnostic criteria, definitions of terms, and classifications, as well as management and treatment strategies to help the reader fully comprehend the disorder. In addition, case studies provide the reader with real-life examples to help increase recognition of various Bipolar presentations beyond the stark black-and-white diagnostic criteria of the DSM and ICD.

Contents:

1. Introduction and Chapter Summaries 2. The Spectrum of Mood Disorders: Bipolar I, Bipolar II, and Unipolar 3. A 2,000-year History of Bipolar 4. Bipolar Is a Neurogenetic Disease of the Brain, Not a Psychological Condition 5. The Disaster of a Missed Diagnosis; How It Happens 6. The Introduction of "Schizophrenia" Deprived Bipolar Patients of Proper Care; a History 7. The Diagnosis of Bipolar Recovers from the 1970s to the Present; the Continuum Concept Ends the Kraepelinian Dichotomy and "Schizophrenia" 8. Psychotic Mood Disorders Are Disorders of Thought and Mood; A Damaged Brain Selective-Attention Filter Explains Psychotic Manic Thought 9. Paranoid Delusions Explained by Manic Grandiosity and the Guilt of Depression; There Is No "Schizophrenia" 10. The Differential Diagnoses for Bipolar 11. Difficult-to-Diagnose Case Studies Demonstrating Wide Variations in Presentations 12. Psychotic Perpetrators of Violence, Murder, and Mass Murder Are Bipolar 13. The Initial Diagnostic Interview for Physicians and Patients 14. Treatment of Bipolar: What to Expect; How to Manage the Chaos 15. Conclusions and Future Considerations for Bipolar