WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF BIPOLAR?
What are the different patterns of bipolar disorder? People vary in the types of episodes they usually have and how often they become ill. Some people have equal numbers of manic and depressive episodes; others have mostly one type or the other. The average person with dipolar disorder had four episodes during the first 10 years of the illness. Men are more likely to start with a manic episode, women with a depressive episode. While a number of years can elapse between the first two or three episodes of mania or depression, without treatment most people eventually have more frequent episodes. Sometimes these follow a seasonal pattern (for example, getting hypomanic in summer and depressed in the winter.) A small number of people cycle frequently or even continuously through the year. Episodes can last days, months or sometime even years. On average, without treatment, manic or hypomanic episodes last a few months while depression often last well over 6 months. Some individuals recover