title: Managing bipolar II disorder: some personal perspectives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim is to overview a personal model for managing bipolar II disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  The model describes the author's personal approach and observes the relative lack of an evidence base.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Key 'macro' and treatment component approaches are overviewed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  It is suggested that bipolar II disorder is categorically distinct from bipolar I, in lacking any psychotic features during contrasting mood states and thus allowing that its management should not necessarily extrapolate strategies used to manage bipolar I disorder. If valid, in addition to there being less of a need to prescribe antipsychotic drugs, the differing mood stabilizers may have quite differing gradients of efficacy across the bipolar I and II disorders.
authors: Scientia Professor of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Randwick, NSW, and; Professorial Fellow, Black Dog Institute, Randwick, NSW, Australia g.parker@unsw.edu.au.
authors: Gordon
authors: G
authors: Parker
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000627:therapeutic use*
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs
keywords: bipolar II disorder; bipolar disorders; management