How to tell if you have bipolar.

[viking111]

So hello!
Me again, few days ago I started reading stuff about bipolar and started to freak out.
I started to think, what if I have it and so.
Maybe it's just my OCD, that I have, making me freak out like this, but I still want to be sure.
So, I've heard it's about mood swings.
I've kinda never had them as described there, but I've had depression which I got rid of.
Now one more thing, I sometimes get DPDR, but I ignore it, still it makes me feel bit down for short amout of time.
EDIT: I just spoke to one friend who has bipolar, he said that main symptom is that one day you can feel ultra happy, other day depressed for no reason.
Well, for me, I had depression, with ups and downs, but it doesn't really sound like that.
It's my OCD giving me these fears too, but still I kinda wanna make sure.

[MyNameIsTerry]

Hi Viking,

There are various forms of mood disorder that can exhibit some of the signs and in some cases it can be about severity of the symptoms. For instance, the typical view of bipolar is the swings to mania and depression and back again (these don't have to be one to the other i.e. "rapid cycling"). But there are lesser forms with similiar characteristics e.g. cyclothymia or forms where the swings are to depression only such as dysthymia So, eductaion of the moods disorders is useful in working them out. Remember also that depression is a mood disorder and there are various forms of that too just as anxiety disorder wouldn't explain which type you have.

The easiest way to rule out bipolar is to determine if you have mania. The depression side of bipolar can be explained away as low mood or depression in many people because they get that and not mania. Mania is much easier to rule out. It's true that there are mania disorders too but then they would probably be ruling out depressive episodes or looking at the patterns.

Mood swings are common with anxiety. Mania is not.