Bipolar disorders as a cause of insomnia

Bipolar Disorders are one of the two main groups of what is described in psychiatry textbooks as mood disorders. This kind of mood disorders are characterized by mania, as they have a manic episode or a hypomanic episode sometimes alone and others in combination with depression. Among Bipolar disorders we may find:

Bipolar I disorder (characterized by the occurrence of one manic or mixed episode and no past Major Depressive episode),

Bipolar II disorder (in which may occur periods of hypomania before or after a depression period),

Cyclothymic disorder (is the less severe form of bipolar disorder) and finally,

Bipolar disorder not otherwise specified (this one is a residual category).

All the categories described above include in its symptoms some type of sleeping problems. This is due to the following: if the syndrome has a manic or hippomanic episode generally the patient feels a decreased need to sleep. These patients usually feel rested when sleeping only 3 or 4 hours. When the syndrome presents a major depressive episode, it is very frequent that the patient suffers from insomnia or hipersomnia mostly every day.

 So, as we have said before, to treat accurately any kind of sleep disorder, it is highly recommended to have a correct diagnosis. Every professional is aware of that. When someone comes to a clinic and ask for help to get sleep, the receptionist often send this patient to a psychiatric consultation.

 Nowadays this type of mood disorder is underdiagnosed, as it is very usual to find a patient with a diagnosis of schizophrenia instead of bipolar disorder. Differential diagnosis is a main subject in this area because these two syndromes may share several symptoms (e.g., agitation, irritability, grandiose delusions).

 After a patient has been diagnosed with some of the different types of Bipolar disorder, a professional may proceed by prescribing both, a psycho pharmacotherapy and a psychotherapy with a psychologist. Several investigations on this matter have shown that patient who received a combined therapy have a more successful recovery than those who have been only treated by a psychologist or a psychiatrist separately.