Bipolar syndromeBipolar syndrome or bipolar disorder? One reason I like the term "syndrome" is because it means a combination of both bipolar signs AND bipolar symptoms.
Symptoms traditionally means subjective experience reported by the patient, but signs means objective, observable bipolar behavior that assists diagnosis by others. If I am having a serious episode my thinking can be very distorted and I may not recognize symptoms or I may misinterpret them, but I and my loved ones can monitor me for my particular bipolar signs or red flags - the bipolar prodromes that signal I am becoming unwell. So, bipolar disorder or bipolar syndrome? Does it matter? You bet it does! In medicine, a "syndrome" is a mixture of signs (observed by a medical professional), and symptoms (reported by patients to a medical professional). Now compare this concept carefully with the Medical Dictionary definition for "disorder": "A derangement or abnormality of function; a morbid physical or mental state." Do you see any difference? According to Wikipedia, a "syndrome" is: "The association of several clinically recognizable: 1. Features 2. Signs (observed by a physician) 3. Symptoms (reported by the patient) 4. Phenomena or characteristics that often occur together, so that the presence of one or more features alerts the physician to the possible presence of the others." BEST overview of bipolar disorder
The point being made is that a particular syndromes may be relevant to a range of possible disease. For example, psychosis can occur in extreme bipolar mania but also may be due to thyroid malfunction, substance abuse, schizophrenia, and so on.
For a psychiatrist, the presence of a bipolar syndrome, for example depression, helps narrow down the possible diagnosis. We use similar logic in daily life - if somebody speaks German to us, it may help us to make an accurate guess about where that person comes from. What is bipolar?Bipolar disorder used to be known as manic-depressive illness. This is still a useful way to understand the central concept - an illness characterized by cycling or recurring episodes of mania and depression, but including periods of normal mood. See more bipolar disorder definitions. Bipolar conditionA condition is a "state of being". In a medical context, a condition therefore means "an unhealthy state".So in this sense bipolar condition is broadly synonymous with bipolar disorder or bipolar disease. We can also speak of "the bipolar condition" in an existential sense to convey deeper truths and meanings of what bipolar disease is all about. Remember also that "bipolar" has a non-psychiatric meaning of opposite extremes such as positive/negative, north/south, and so on. A bipolar condition can be a scientific, engineering, or geopolitical phenomenon. Returning to the opening point however, please try and always understand the illness as a COMBINATION of
bipolar disorder SIGNS AND SYMPTOMS.
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