Hello and welcome to the zero to finals podcast. My name is Tom and in this episode I'm going to be going through bipolar disorder.

And you can find written notes on this topic at zero to finals.com slash bipolar or in the psychiatry section of the

zero to finals more medicine book. So let's get straight into it. Bipolar disorder is characterized

by recurrent episodes of depression and episodes of mania or hypomania.

The symptoms often start at a younger age, for example, under 25 years.

It has a particularly high rate of suicide.

Depressive episodes feature low mood, anhydenia, which is a loss of interest in things,

and low energy, and they can be very severe.

Manic episodes involve excessively elevated mood and energy, and this significantly impacts

their normal functions, for example their caring and work responsibilities.

Hypomanic episodes involve milder symptoms of mania with elevated mood and energy without having a significant impact on their function.

Mixed episodes can involve a mix of symptoms or rapid cycling between mania and depression.

Let's talk about the features of mania.

Potential features of mania include abnormally elevated mood, significant irritability, increased energy, decreased sleep,

sometimes going days without sleeping, grandiosity, ambitious plans, excessive spending and

risk-taking behaviours, disinhibition and sexually inappropriate behavior,

flight of ideas which refers to rapidly generating and jumping between ideas,

pressured speech which refers to rapid and unrelenting speech,

and psychosis, which involves delusions and hallucinations.

Let's talk about making the diagnosis.

A diagnosis of bipolar disorder will be made by a specialist based on the diagnostic and

statistical manual of mental disorders, or DSM-5.

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