[Elysium]

Well....I really wasn't sure where to post this, so mods/admin...move it if you think it would get better results somewhere else.

Today in T, I was describing how I was feeling just internally anxious and agitated....I admit I was feeling manic inside...but I wasn't exhibiting other behaviors that come along with mania.

T said something about that she has seen in me, over the last year she's been treating me, that I have a lot of agitated depression. I never really heard that term before, so of course I go and google it when I get home.

It sounds spot on to me, from what I have been reading...which is kind of comforting....but I wanted to ask any of the folks out there who have a bit more education in Psychology what the technical difference is between agitated depression and bi-polar disorder? Is it a continuum thing, like dissociation? I have close family members who are bi-polar, and I know that it tends to run in families, but I don't see Bi-Polar in me though, however I do see the agitated depression.

Are they one in the same? I plan on asking T next week. I didn't think to ask her today....but I just wanted to get other educated thoughts on it.

Thanks for any responses.

It seems like I've heard that term used to describe a mixed episode. That certainly describes my mixed episodes anyway. Maybe that will help?

[elliemay]

If you have been described as having bipolar disorder, then I was going to say that sounds like a Mixed State as well. It can be a very uncomfortable place to be. I hope you feel better soon.

[Perna]

Good professional article: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/436879

[sunrise]

I think the agitated depression is somewhere on the continuum of mood disorders between MDD and Bipolar I. It sounds like a mixed state in which the manic component doesn't reach all the way to hypomania. If it did reach hypomania, the disorder would be called Bipolar II. So it sounds like a sub-hypomanic state to me, and mixed with the depression.