Bipolar disorder (BD) is a complex and chronic mental health condition characterized by significant mood fluctuations that include episodes of mania or hypomania and depression. The DSM-5 defines specific criteria for the diagnosis of bipolar subtypes, but the more recent concept of the bipolar spectrum has expanded the understanding of BD beyond... See more

mood stabilizers (lithium, valproate, carbamazepine

This polarization of two clinical states flies in the face of everything that we know about the cauldronous, fluctuating nature of manic-depressive illness; it ignores the question of whether mania is, ultimately, simply an extreme form of depression; and it minimizes the importance of mixed manic-and-depressive states, conditions that are common,

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