I have a question about the difference between type 1 and type 2 that I'm not quite sure how to phrase. I know the diagnostic distinction between them is that of mania vs. hypomania as the highest elevation state experienced, but it seems to me that the line between mania and hypomania is pretty fuzzy, and what's considered mania vs. hypomania is ultimately often up to the discretion of the clinician.
So, I guess my question is, how subjective is the split between type 1 and type 2 believed to be (or the distinction between mania and hypomania, for that matter)? Are types 1 and 2 currently considered to be on a severity/presentation spectrum with fuzzy middle ground in between, or are they more so thought to be two literally separate conditions? Is there thought to be such a thing as "mild bipolar 1"?
I ask because I'm diagnosed with bipolar type 1, but my manic episodes don't reach the behavioral extremes I usually hear about: I've never been hospitalized, I've never lost a job or been arrested or anything like that, I've never put myself into debt or been promiscuous or committed infidelity, I've never gone days without sleep, etc. That said, my manic episodes also sound more intense than how I usually hear hypomania described, and they usually involve delusions and occasionally hallucinations. I consider myself to have "mild bipolar 1" or be sort of "cuspy"--does that concept fit with current understandings of bipolar?
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I have a question about the difference between type 1 and type 2 that I'm not quite sure how to phrase. I know the diagnostic distinction between them is that of mania vs. hypomania as the highest elevation state experienced, but it seems to me that the line between mania and hypomania is pretty fuzzy, and what's considered mania vs. hypomania is ultimately often up to the discretion of the clinician.
So, I guess my question is, how subjective is the split between type 1 and type 2 believed to be (or the distinction between mania and hypomania, for that matter)? Are types 1 and 2 currently considered to be on a severity/presentation spectrum with fuzzy middle ground in between, or are they more so thought to be two literally separate conditions? Is there thought to be such a thing as "mild bipolar 1"?
I ask because I'm diagnosed with bipolar type 1, but my manic episodes don't reach the behavioral extremes I usually hear about: I've never been hospitalized, I've never lost a job or been arrested or anything like that, I've never put myself into debt or been promiscuous or committed infidelity, I've never gone days without sleep, etc. That said, my manic episodes also sound more intense than how I usually hear hypomania described, and they usually involve delusions and occasionally hallucinations. I consider myself to have "mild bipolar 1" or be sort of "cuspy"--does that concept fit with current understandings of bipolar?
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