Letter to the Editor April 16, 2007

"Bipolar Family": Useful Mnemonic to Differentiate Bipolar From Unipolar Depression

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Prim Care Companion J Clin Psychiatry 2007;9(2):152-153

Article Abstract

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Sir: When depression is preceded by a history of manic,mixed, or hypomanic episode, classifying it as bipolar depressionrather than unipolar depression becomes straightforward.However, when there is no access to such history and the initialpresentation is from the depressive end of the pole, correctlyclassifying the disorder as bipolar rather than unipolar then becomesdifficult. Being able to correctly classify depression asbipolar rather than unipolar is crucial due to the ramifications ofthe diagnosis in terms of management.