Unfortunately, there is no blood test or genetic test for bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, like most mental illnesses, is diagnosed by asking a number of questions of patients about their current and past mental states. there are usually two stages. first, a referral is requested to a psychiatrist or trained therapist. Second, the therapist gives a questionnaire that determines whether or not the patient has bipolar disorder.
Getting a Referral
If you have the money, nothing stops you from simply hiring a psychiatrist to give you an evaluation. However, usually this is not how it works. a patient who has been having trouble with mood episodes or with psychotic symptoms will usually bring these concerns to their general practitioner or to an emergency room. On seeing that the patient is suffering from some sort of mental health problems, the GP or emergency room physician will provide a referral to a psychiatrist or other therapist for an assessment. if the problem is serious enough that hospitalization is required, this will often be done during the confinement.
The Test Itself
For many years, psychiatrists and therapists would have their own tests for diagnosing bipolar disorder. However, this gradually proved unwieldy, because physicians would be unsure whether a test from another physician was the same as their own. Because of this, physicians have moved more and more to the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders, known more generally as the SCID-I. this tests not only for bipolar disorder, but for other disorders such as schizophrenia and major depression (though not personality disorders; that is the SCID-II).
Is the Test Trustworthy?
So long as the patient provides clear and honest answers during the test, yes, the test is fairly trustworthy. The reason for this is that mental disorders in North America are diagnosed symptomatically. in other words, if you have the requisite symptoms, you have the disorder by definition. since the test asks you straightforwardly whether or not you have the symptoms, so long as the answers received are accurate, the test will be accurate. Difficulty can arise if patients don't understand the questions (such as what elation means, for example). if you do take the test and a term is unclear, feel free to ask.
Conclusion
Getting a bipolar diagnosis is a relatively straightforward matter, once you get a proper referral (or if you have the money to simply walk into a psychiatrist's office and pay for a test). The test itself lasts between an hour and two hours, and once a proper diagnosis is gotten, it is a lot easier to start on the road to managing the disorder.
How Is Bipolar Disorder Diagnosed?
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