Bipolar diagnosis

[me_too]

One question I was thinking about is wether typically depression or mania is first when this disorder shows up.
Any guess perhaps?

[lylemcdonald]

I don't think there is any commonality in terms of which presents first

In my case, since hypomania was just me being awesome, I only went for help when I was depressed. And got middoagnised with depression.

These are details that are irrelevant.

[doctor_octopus]

Originally Posted by me_too

One question I was thinking about is wether typically depression or mania is first when this disorder shows up.
Any guess perhaps?

Patients are usually diagnosed with depression until a manic episode happens, then it's automatically either bipolar I or II presenting with any variant (mood congruent psychosis, depression, mixed). If mood incongruent psychosis presents, then it's usually labeled schizo-affective. I might have some old terms mixed with newer standards but the literature is out there.
If a patient with treatment resistant depression has ever had a manic episode, it's bipolar.