What are the different kinds of bipolar disorder?

What are the different kinds of bipolar disorder?

Christopher Reist (Academic Psychiatrist, Co-Author of “Psychiatry”) gives expert video advice on: What's the difference between "major depression" and "bipolar disorder"?; Is there anything I can do to avoid developing bipolar disorder? and more...

Bipolar disorder comes in a variety of different forms and they're categorized based on the characteristics of the mood episodes. Bipolar I disorder refers to a pattern where you have major depression and also periods of mania. Bipolar II disorder refers to a pattern where you have depression and only episodes of hypomania. You could consider bipolar II to be a milder version of bipolar I. There are other variations of bipolar disorder, such as rapid cycling bipolar disorder - which is characterized by rapid switches between depression and mania or hypomania - and mixed states - where a person manifests characteristics of depression, but also shows some signs of mania or hypomania at the same time, such as irritability and pressured speech.