Bipolar Disorder Pre-Screening

By Joe Kraynak
December 30, 2008

In Bipolar Disorder for Dummies, we discourage anyone from attempting to self-diagnose or diagnose others suspected of having bipolar disorder and encourage you to obtain a diagnosis from a qualified doctor – preferably a psychiatrist who has some experience in diagnosing bipolar disorder and ruling out other conditions that could have similar symptoms.

In short, if you feel depressed or manic, consult your doctor.

In borderline cases, however, people may not have a clear idea of whether what they’re feeling is really clinical depression or mania. Maybe they’re simply feeling sad, anxious, or exhausted or have had a particularly active and creative period in their lives. In such cases, doing a pre-screening can often convince a person that what they are experiencing is beyond the limits of life’s normal ups and downs – something a doctor or therapist can help them with.

Following are a couple pre-screening checklists that can help you determine whether you or a loved one are experiencing something more than life’s normal ups and downs.

Are You Depressed?

The following symptom checklist can help you decide when you need to seek professional help. The more items you check, and the longer you’ve had the symptoms, the greater your need for professional help.

You’re sleeping way more than usual and still feel tired.
You lack energy – the smallest task is a huge effort.
You’re having trouble falling or staying asleep.
You feel evil even though you haven’t done anything that bad.
Life seems horrible, and the future seems bleak.
You just can’t get started on anything.
Minor projects take forever to accomplish.
You feel like nobody loves you.
You think everything’s your fault.
Nothing feels good.
You think you’d be better off dead. (If you check this one, get help immediately.)

If you’re unsure whether you need help, talking with a professional about your symptoms can do a lot to ease your concerns.

Have You Ever Been Manic/Hypomanic?

If you consult a doctor when you’re feeling depressed, you should report whether you’ve ever had symptoms of mania or hypomania, so your doctor can determine whether you have unipolar or bipolar depression (manic depression). Check any of the following manic symptoms if you’ve ever had one for more than four days in a row:

You function quite well without any or with very little sleep.
You feel superhuman, as though you can do anything and everything!
Ideas pop into your brain faster than you can process them.
You feel the need to keep talking.
You feel irritable or lose your temper often and for little reason.
People keep telling you to slow down!
You feel active, outgoing, and are easily distracted.
You spend a ton of money or rack up huge bills on your credit cards.
You engage in hypersexual or risky sexual activity.
You talk so that others can’t keep up or don’t understand.
You feel as though you’re the best and fastest at everything you do.

Prescreening is no substitute for a bona fide clinical evaluation. If you feel that you need help, regardless of what the results of these pre-screening checklists tell you, seek help. You can start by seeing your primary care physician who can then refer you, if needed, to a qualified specialist.

In 1999, my wife, Cecie, experienced her first major manic episode. She ended up in St. Vincent’s Stress Center, where she was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder. She has been hospitalized a total of three times – all for mania. She rarely experiences the debilitating depression that many people with bipolar disorder struggle with. We have two children together, both of whom are pretty much adults at this point. Over the past decade or so, we’ve struggled to coexist with this disease. At times, it seems to be a cruel puppet master pulling our strings to act out some demented drama on the stage we call our home. Most times, we manage to keep this beast chained up, through a combination of medicine and therapy, but occasionally it escapes and turns our home inside out. In 2005, I had the good fortune to co-author Bipolar Disorder For Dummies with Dr. Candida Fink. In the process, I learned a great deal about bipolar disorder and strategies for treating it, preventing major mood episodes, and dealing with the fallout when preventive measures are ineffective. Through this blog, I hope to share what I’ve learned about bipolar while I continue to discover even more.