[Clinical masks of bipolar disorders].
Bipolar disorders usually present as alternating episodes of melancholy and mania. However, other clinical situations appear in a masked form before being spotted. The principal one is hypomania that declares itself as an attenuated form of a manic episode. Its principal signs are an increase in energy, hyperactivity and disinhibition. In other cases, bipolar disorders express themselves as impulsive behaviours. More rarely, the mask of a bipolar illness is translated into behaviours such as intermittent alcohol abuse. The consummation of alcohol is sudden and paroxysmal. It is a type of dipsomania. Finally, bipolar disorders can express themselves as difficulty in impulse control. The two most frequent examples are impulse buying and pathological gambling.
Lejoyeux
Michel
M
Service de Psychiatrie, Groupe Hospitalier Bichat-Claude-Bernard, 75018 Paris. michel.lejoyeux@bch.ap-hop-paris.fr
D000437:Alcoholism / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003527:Cyclothymic Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans