I just received the following question from Kimbriel,
Julie, I thought that people w/ Bipolar II don’t get psychotic? Or did you have a psychotic depression?
Hi Kimbriel,
Believe it or not, I’m writing an article on psychosis right now. People with bipolar II can defintely get psychotic. I’ve had psychotic symptoms since age 19. Mine are always with depression – as it’s rare for someone with bipolar II to have psychosis with hypomania.
The difference is in intensity- people with bipolar I have full blown psychosis – usually with mania. In fact, 70% of people with full blown mania have full blown psychosis at the same time. This is when most people have to go to the hopsital and often have to be committed by a family member!
I will let everyone know when the psychosis article is ready. It’s for healthyplace.com.
Thanks for writing!
Julie
PS: Here is an explanation of the difference between bipolar i and bipolar II. If you are new to bipolar disorder terms, I think you will find this helpful.
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Interesting stuff. I guess I’ll have to wait until your next article to find out the difference between psychosis and full blown psychosis
Thanks!
Julie, you mentioned in your latest newsletter that BP medications treat the symptoms of BP. I can understand that, but sometimes it also seems like a band-aid approach to treating BP, i.e. give her this med for mania, this for anxiety, this for BP depression, etc. instead of looking at the symptoms as a whole and treating them accordingly. (Obviously, I need Dr. Preston’s book!) How does one determine which meds are truly essential and which are duplicating what is already being treated? (I’m currently taking five meds for BP I symptoms.)