What Is Bipolar Disorder Vs Unipolar Depression?

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Bipolar disorder can cause various amounts of manic, hypomanic and depressive states. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) it might be easy to make diagnosis when bipolar disorder patients is in the manic and hypomanic state, but bipolar patients who are mainly in depressive episodes without a history of mania are often misdiagnosed. Accordingly, these patients are often treated as having recurrent unipolar depression, which can lead to poor treatment, increased medical costs and poor outcomes. Bipolar disorder has usually been considered to be fundamentally a mood disorder, but its symptoms range, with dominant features, such as hallucinations and delusions.

Hallucinations is associated with higher ratings of anxiety in patients with either bipolar or unipolar depression than in mania. However, anxiety is even higher among unipolar-depressed patients without hallucinations than among all bipolar disorder patients. The bipolar and unipolar depressive patients with hallucinations have a lower average level of education. This relationship may indicate more severe illness, perhaps with impaired cognition or other impairments limiting progress in school. Hallucinations in bipolar disorder and unipolar major depression are less severe and more treatment-responsive among patients with major affective disorders. In manic, bipolar-depressed and unipolar-depressed patients, the types of hallucinations, and their improvement with treatment all very similar. Hallucinations were less often associated with delusional thinking in bipolar disorder people, but delusions were found similar among manic, bipolar and unipolar-depressed disorder patients with hallucination. (Baethge, et al 2005)

Bipolar disorder was ranked sixth, with unipolar depression ranked first. However, it is notable that least 20% of early onset unipolar cases will also convert to bipolar disorder over 5to 8years later further increasing the morbidity and mortality associated with bipolar disorder. A family history of unipolar depression puts a person at an increased risk for developing it, especially if it is common in their immediate family. Also, if one of an identical twin suffers from it, the other twin has more than 50% chance of developing it, too. Other psychosocial factors that may act as triggers of depression include stress and little social support, although normal bereavement would not be characterized as clinical depression. (Rombough, J)

Conclusion

Depression affects more than millions of Americans each year; Millions are diagnosed with unipolar depression, also referred to as major depressive disorder. Studies have found that more women suffer from it than men. In fact, one in seven women will undergo at least one depressive episode during their lifetime. It seems that men and women do not differ in their biological stress response in general, but rather with respect to certain events. So women suffer more with unipolar depression because of traumatic events such as childbirth and death. Women are sensitive individuals so various things can send them into depression. However men are more likely to prone to undergo depression after war or life threating situations. So therefore anyone can suffer from unipolar depression but women are just more at risk and age doesn’t matter. Hence if you know any individual who stays stress preferably a female please inform them about depression relatively unipolar depression to stop them from being a statistic in life. However you really can stop it but can education and inform them to stay calm. Characteristics of hallucinations were similar among manic and both bipolar and unipolar depressed people.

Psychologist have accept that there is no current method that distinguishes between bipolar and unipolar disorder, no standard in establishing a clear-cut boundary. The optimal balance between unipolar and bipolar disorder, leading to the unnecessary use of antipsychotic and mood-stabilizing medication. Nevertheless, differences in unipolar and bipolar illnesses, the genetics of unipolar depression may differ in families who are predominantly affected with unipolar versus bipolar disorders.

References

Baethge, C., Baldessarini, R. J., Freudenthal, K., Streeruwitz, A., Bauer, M., & Bschor, T. (2005). Hallucinations in bipolar disorder: characteristics and comparison to unipolar depression and schizophrenia. Bipolar Disorders, 7(2), 136-145.

Kuehner, C. (2003). Gender differences in unipolar depression: an update of epidemiological findings and possible explanations. Acta Psychiatry Scand 2003: 108: 163–174.

McGuffin, P., Rijsdijk, F., Andrew, M., Sham, P., Katz, R., & Cardno, A. (2003). The heritability of bipolar affective disorder and the genetic relationship to unipolar depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 60, 497–502.doi:10.1001/archpsyc.60.5.497

Mondimore, F. M. (2005). Unipolar depression/bipolar depression: Connections and controversies. International Review Of Psychiatry, 17(1), 39-47.

Muhtadie, L., & Johnson, S. L. (2015). Threat sensitivity in bipolar disorder. Journal Of Abnormal Psychology, 124(1), 93-101.

Olsen LR, Jensen DV, Noerholm V, Martini K, Bech P (2003) The internal and external validity of the Major Depression Inventory in measuring severity of depressive states. Psychology Med 33(2): 351–356.