Expert: Ivan Goldberg, M.D. - 1/29/2005

Question
Hi
I know that it is nearly impossible to diagnos someone online, but I just had a question. For the past 5 years I have been diagnosed by my doctor with depression. I have gone off and on different medications and for the past year have taken nothing. I was reading about bipolar disorder and as I read over the symptoms I found a similarity to my own that I was experiencing. In a period of a week I could go from being extremely confident (which is rare for me), energetic, feeling great... And for no reason a few days later, the tiniest thing will piss me off (that usually woudln't) and I go into a state of depression where I do not want to leave the house and threaten suicide amongst other down symptoms. I am going to go see a professional in my area about this, but in your opinion what do you think the chances are that I could possibly have bipolar disorder? If I have been having these strong mood swings often which go from very high periods to suicial ones, is that normal? Could that be something other than bipolar? Is there such thing?
Thank You
Stephanie

Answer
Hi . . .

The quickest way to get a preliminary reading on the question of your having a disorder in the "Bipolar Spectrum" would be for you to go to:

http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.bipolar-screening.html

and complete the scale.

If you score high you might want to go to Google and do a search on "bipolar spectrum" and another on "soft bipolar".

Best regards . . .

Ivan
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