Diagnostic Criteria for Bipolar Disorder

Manic-depression is the common term for bipolar affective disorder. The standard classification was given by Gerald Klerman, MD, who identified six forms of bipolar disorder (Psychiatric Annals 17: Jan. 1987).

• Bipolar I: Mania and depression.
  
• Bipolar II: Hypomania and depression.
  
• Bipolar III: Cyclothymic disorders.
  
• Bipolar IV: Hypomania or mania precipitated by antidepressant drugs.
  
• Bipolar V: Depressed patients with bipolar relatives.
  
• Bipolar VI: Mania without depression.
  

Onset of bipolar symptoms: "Pooling the data from 22 studies reporting average onset age in bipolar affective illness, the weighted mean is 28.1 years." (Goodwin and Jamison, Manic Depressive Illness, Oxford Univ Press, 1990)

These criteria are excerpts from Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, DSM-IV, © 1994, American Psychiatric Association