Expert: Ivan Goldberg, M.D. - 7/28/2009

Question
I have a friend, who is 17 years old, that many of us believe is bipolar. She has gone through a lot with her family, especially with her father living on the other side of the world and gets into constant fights with her mother and brothers. She has severe mood swings that can start off as extremely happy, and then a joke being made about her and changing her entire mood to anger and almost depressive, which greatly effects the people around her. She has extreme highs, and extreme lows over the period of one day. I was wondering if there was a way of telling if she is Bipolar, because this has been happening for a very long time. And what is the best way of bringing up her mood swings to her without making her feel like we are going against her?

Answer
Hi Melanie . . .

Unfortunately there is no easy way to diagnose bipolar disorder. Mood swings certainly are part of the clinical picture, but not everyone whose moods change rapidly has bipolar disorder. Psychiatrists may need more than one interview with someone to diagnose them properly.

Best regards . . .

Ivan
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