Bipolar I & II Disorder
Mood cycling, hypomania and depression that antidepressants alone can worsen.
Bipolar disorder is frequently treated as depression for years, because the depressed episodes are what drive people to seek help and the elevated periods feel like finally functioning. Getting the diagnosis right changes the medication strategy entirely — and often explains why previous treatment kept failing.
How care usually works
Assessment includes a careful history of elevated periods, family history and prior medication reactions. Treatment centers on mood stabilization first rather than antidepressant monotherapy, with lab monitoring where the medication requires it and a written plan for early warning signs. Sleep is treated as clinical, not lifestyle.
What we focus on
- Diagnostic clarification of bipolar I versus II versus unipolar depression
- Mood stabilizer and antipsychotic management with lab monitoring
- Early-warning plan for hypomania and depressive slides
- Sleep and routine stabilization
Let's start with a conversation
Virtual appointments, evenings and weekends included. Send a request and you'll hear back with available times.