I recently posted and asked people to comment on all of the different names used to describe bipolar disorder. Sandra just wrote in with another name:
Hi Julie,
I purchased a book called “Break the Bipolar Cycle” by Elizabeth Brondolo, Ph.D. and Xavier Amador, Ph.D. and they use the term Bipolar Spectrum Disorders (BSD) as an umbrella term that includes all types of Bipolar Disorders. That was the first I’d heard that term before.
Sandra
Here is my answer:
Hi Sandra,
The term bipolar spectrum disorders is used a lot in health care professional and academic writing. As you read in the book I am sure, it means that bipolar disorder goes on a spectrum from mind to severe with many different manifestations of the illness in between. Most of us have bipolar one or bipolar two- a new diagnosis is of bipolar three where the person gets manic from a medication such as Prozac or Zoloft and or Adderall or Ritalin. Once a person who is depressed has a mania, it is then considered a bipolar disorder diagnosis. There is also a form of bipolar on the spectrum that some call bipolar four- where the person is only manic. Can you imagine! My coauthor John says you can meet many of those with this diagnosis in Hollywood or Wall Street
Cyclothymia is the milder form of bipolar and is found at the lower end of the spectrum. There is also childhood onset bipolar disorder- a term I have never agreed with. The symptoms seen in ‘childhood bipolar’ are so different than those in adult onset bipolar where the symptoms start in the late teens and early twenties. I just read an article on the CNN website that said a new name is coming out on the spectrum for children: Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria
This is a complicated name that means the children get angry easliy, can’t be soothed and are often uncomfortable, restless, unhappy, depressed and agitated with mania. Adults are like this for sure, but not for the long periods seen in children. Children can get ragingly upset for hours and even days and few things can help them calm down until the episode is over. I will write more on this in the future. Many of my coaching clients are parents of children whose bipolar fits the Temper Dysregulation pattern.
Yes- Bipolar Spectrum Disorders is a common term and one I will add to our list.
Thanks Sandra! Julie
