title: Pathways to the Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder.
abstract: Awareness of the key signs of bipolar disorder, including episodes of mania or hypomania, early symptom onset, family history, and unpredictable behavior, can help to distinguish bipolar depression from unipolar depression. Primary care providers are ideally situated to identify bipolar disorder, initiate early treatment, encourage sustained treatment, and facilitate psychiatric consultations, to improve the health care and quality of life of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Professor of Family Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Culpepper
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000379:methods; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011788:Quality of Life