Summary

The artistic creativity and risk-taking behaviour of hypomania explains the evolutionary value of Bipolar Disorder (BD) and its survival over the evolutionary pressures, but BD is a destructive psychiatric condition with many challenges. Bipolar affective disorders are associated with significant mortality and morbidity. Diagnosis of BD is generally put on hold until the patients declare mania, but such a delay can be mitigated if clinicians develop the expertise to detect disguised bipolarity. Unlike schizophrenia research, BD research has been taking a very slow pace. BD has a multifactorial aetiology that includes genetic, biological, and psychological factors. Investigators hope to find new remedies that would enable sufferers to live a functional life like that of patients with Diabetes Mellitus and to achieve a benign course of the illness. BD in the elderly population carries its own risks and warrants special management. The easy availability of medical knowledge through cybernetic system prompts patients and families to challenge the clinicians to keep up to date and make clear-cut diagnosis.

Keywords: Depression; Hypomania; Mania; Mixed affective states; Rapid cycling; Mood stabilizers; Antipsychotics