MRIs and CT scans can provide detailed images of the brain and its structures. But currently, doctors don't use them to diagnose bipolar disorder. Detecting bipolar disorder is typically done through a diagnostic interview with a mental health professional.
Brain scans alone cannot be used to diagnose a mental disorder, such as autism, anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, or bipolar disorder. In some cases, a brain scan might be used to rule out other medical illnesses, such as a tumor, that could cause symptoms similar to a mental disorder, such as depression.
Brain scans of people with bipolar disorder may have some differences or anomalies. Differences may be physical or show diminished or increased activity in the brain. Currently, doctors do not use brain images to diagnose bipolar disorder.
To diagnose bipolar disorder, a doctor performs a physical exam, asks about your symptoms, and recommends blood testing to determine if another condition, such as hypothyroidism, is causing your symptoms. If the doctor does not find an underlying cause of your symptoms, he or she performs a psychological evaluation.
MRIs and CT scans can provide detailed images of the brain and its structures. But currently, doctors don't use them to diagnose bipolar disorder. Detecting bipolar disorder is typically done through a diagnostic interview with a mental health professional.
Brain scans can assist in ruling out physical or medical causes, such as tumors or brain bleeds, for psychiatric symptoms. Scans can also be used to educate individuals who do not believe that they have a diagnosis or are in need of treatment.
Cyclothymia symptoms alternate between emotional highs and lows. The highs of cyclothymia include symptoms of an elevated mood (hypomanic symptoms). The lows consist of mild or moderate depressive symptoms. Cyclothymia symptoms are similar to those of bipolar I or II disorder, but they're less severe.
Bipolar disorder can be an elusive disorder for doctors to identify because the symptoms can vary widely and is often masked or exacerbated by other factors such as concurrent drug use or remission of symptoms. Stigma makes it even more difficult for people to get help.
Although bipolar disorder can occur at any age, typically it's diagnosed in the teenage years or early 20s.
Bipolar patients tend to have gray matter reductions in frontal brain regions involved in self-control (orange colors), while sensory and visual regions are normal (gray colors).
Brain Changes
Research shows bipolar disorder may damage the brain over time. Experts think it's because you slowly lose amino acids. They help build the proteins that make up the insulation around your neurons.
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a mental health condition associated with shifts in mood and energy levels and other symptoms. A person with BD may experience episodes of mania or elevated mood, depressive episodes, or “mixed” episodes with manic and depressive symptoms.
New research revealed this month by the Westmead Institute for Medical Research shows that neurons located deep within the brain may offer a solution to the accurate diagnosis of bipolar disorder and depression.
By 2013, scientists had identified neuromarkers for a variety of mental health conditions in MRI and other brain scans of people with schizophrenia, ADHD, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder and Tourette's.
Brain imaging can reveal unsuspected causes of your anxiety. Anxiety can be caused by many things, such as neurohormonal imbalances, post-traumatic stress syndrome, or head injuries. Brain scans can offer clues to potential root causes of your anxiety, which can help find the most effective treatment plan.
As mentioned previously, the most common misdiagnosis for bipolar patients is unipolar depression. An incorrect diagnosis of unipolar depression carries the risk of inappropriate treatment with antidepressants, which can result in manic episodes and trigger rapid cycling.
Bipolar disorder is a serious mental illness that causes unusual shifts in mood, ranging from extreme highs (mania) to lows (depression).
"Bipolar disorder can worsen if left undiagnosed and untreated. Episodes may become more frequent or more severe over time without treatment. Also, delays in getting the correct diagnosis and treatment can contribute to personal, social and work-related problems.
Cyclothymia, or cyclothymic disorder, causes mood changes – from feeling low to emotional highs. Cyclothymia has many similarities to bipolar disorder.
New research finds that previous studies of mental illness using brain scans may be too small for the results to be reliable.
Brain scans include several types of imaging techniques used to diagnose tumors, blood vessel malformations, stroke, injuries, abnormal brain development, and hemorrhage in the brain.