Bipolar II

Bipolar II is the mental health care classification of a form of manic depression that isn't as well know as its "sister" disease, Bipolar I.  Whereas Bipolar I depression includes full-blown manias, Bipolar II has hypomanias (less than mania).  Bipolar II is a form of depression that causes the sufferer to swing from extreme lows (depression) to revved up highs.

The highs of bipolar two are called a hypomanic manic episode.  The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders IV (DSM-IV) defines a hypomanic episode as:

1. A distinct period of persistently elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting throughout at least 4 days, that is clearly different from the usual nondepressed mood.
2. During the period of mood disturbance, three (or more) of the following symptoms have persisted (four if the mood is only irritable) and have been present to a significant degree:
   1. inflated self-esteem or grandiosity
   2. decreased need for sleep (e.g., feels rested after only 3 hours of sleep)
   3. more talkative than usual or pressure to keep talking
   4. flight of ideas or subjective experience that thoughts are racing
   5. distractibility (i.e., attention too easily drawn to unimportant or irrelevant external stimuli)
   6. increase in goal-directed activity (either socially, at work or school, or sexually) or psychomotor agitation
   7. excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences (e.g., the person engages in unrestrained buying sprees, sexual indiscretions, or foolish business investments)
3. The episode is associated with an unequivocal change in functioning that is uncharacteristic of the person when not symptomatic.
4. The disturbance in mood and the change in functioning are observable by others.
5. The episode is not severe enough to cause marked impairment in social or occupational functioning, or to necessitate hospitalization, and there are no psychotic features.
6. The symptoms are not due to the direct physiological effects of a substance (e.g., a drug of abuse, a medication, or other treatment) or a general medical condition (e.g., hyperthyroidism).

Hypomania