Diagnosing various ailments can often be complex and involved. Whether the concern is over a physical disease or an affliction of the mind, it takes background knowledge, a degree of skill, and frequently the assessment of a medical professional to pinpoint an accurate diagnosis.

Unfortunately, there’s no simple, quick and easy test to diagnose people suspected of experiencing bipolar disorder. In fact, this ailment isn’t even a single disorder.

Rather, it’s a term used to describe a number of mood disorders that are identified by mania or manic episodes, bouts of depression, and possibly psychotic episodes. One of or all the above can be present, making a simple and easy test for the disorder difficult to put together.

Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder

A psychiatrist will typically base a bipolar disorder diagnosis on the patient’s own descriptions of their behavior and feelings. They may also use feedback from family and friends of the patient along with their own observations of the patient.

To be diagnosed, an individual must meet a certain list of requirements.

Tests to Determine its Presence

Though a medical professional may administer a psychological bipolar test - weighing the patient’s symptoms against various criteria for diagnosing the disease - there is no single test that can nail an accurate analysis. There is also no biological test for determining whether a patient has the disorder.

However, there are certain tests that should be run on a patient before diagnosing them as a way of ruling out potential medical illnesses which may be causing mental or psychological symptoms. These include testing for TSH levels, doing a full blood count and conducting a brain scan to check for possible tumors or lesions.

While there are no biological tests to diagnose bipolar disorder, there have been recent developments in brain scanning for common patterns. In 2005, the Mayo Clinic announced that it was working on a method which uses magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) to observe and identify specific patterns of metabolic activity that are common to afflicted patients.

How the Affliction can be Misdiagnosed

There are several diseases that are commonly mistaken for bipolar disorder. These include schizoaffective disorder, drug abuse, drug-induced psychosis, schizophrenia, and borderline personality disorder.

How the Condition is Classified

Bipolar disorder diagnoses are typically divided into four major classifications, based on the patient’s symptoms and history. These categories include:

Bipolar I: In Bipolar I, a patient must have experienced at least one manic episode. This manic episode is not required to be accompanied by or followed by an episode of depression.

Bipolar II: Bipolar II is identified by more hypomanic episodes than typical manic expressions. The patient must have also exhibited at least one major depressive incident. Hypomanic episodes are often not as extreme or debilitating as manic versions.

Cyclothymia: Cyclothymia is used to classify patients that have hypomanic episodes (episodes of mania that do not affect their day-to-day life) and minor depressive episodes.

Bipolar-NOS: NOS stands for Not Otherwise Specified and refers to an as-of-yet unclassified bipolar disorder that does not fit into the other three conventional categories of the disorder. For this diagnosis, a traditional psychological bipolar test may not be as effective as a customized evaluation of the patient.