What is the difference between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2?

Watch as HealthMaker Ellen Leibenluft, MD, chief of bipolar spectrum disorders at the National Institute of Mental Health, describes the distinct characteristics and differences between bipolar 1 and bipolar 2.

Transcript

00:00

And some people, in fact, with bipolar II can find that they can get a lot done when they're hypomanic,

00:07

but there's this very, very delicate balance. [MUSIC PLAYING]

00:17

Bipolar II is the more mild form of the illness. In bipolar II, you have hypomania and depression.

00:25

Whereas in bipolar I, you have mania and depression. So what's the difference between hypomania and mania?

00:32

First of all, if there's any psychosis, that's automatically considered bipolar I. So any difficulty

00:38

with hallucinations or delusions, really strange kind of thinking. The mania has to be severely impairing, is what the word is.

00:48

So you know, you're really having difficulty functioning at work. It's typically very difficult for people

00:54

who are truly manic to work. Or for a child who's manic, people at school

01:00

would definitely notice it. Whereas hypomania, it's noticeable to others,

01:07

but it's not necessarily severely impairing. And some people, in fact, with bipolar II can find that they can get a lot done when they're hypomanic,

01:17

but there's this very, very delicate balance that the quality of the work sometimes may be compromised,

01:25

or they thinks they're doing really well, but they're not. So it's a very kind of delicate sort of issue there.

01:32

But it's severity and it's also duration. As I happened to mention, hypomania is at least four days.

01:39

Mania's at least a week. But typically, certainly, mania can definitely last more longer.