I seem to remember seeing something to the opposite effect - not that it's hard to catch them (unless they run! ) but that it's easier to diagnose mania because the behavior tends to be so far out of the normal range that there are few other explanations. People who are manic are much more likely to do things that will lead to trouble and/or intervention - acting out gets attention, and a lot of typical manic symptoms are hard not to notice. It's a pretty easy diagnosis under those conditions.

I suspect hypomania is the one that's actually harder to catch, because it's hard to draw the lines between a normal good mood and an "elevated" mood when you're not doing really obviously crazy stuff like a manic episode can lead to. And who goes to the doctor just because they're feeling great? You're right - no one! So BP II can be hard to identify for that reason.

And yeah, going back to bpdruins' original post - I do spend most of my time at the depressed end of the scale, with all the associated miseries. There's a whole spectrum of what bipolar can look like, and some people rarely experience anything other than depression - and there's also the "mild" form of bipolar, cyclothymia. From what I've seen on others' posts, it seems like Depakote usually helps them sleep, so maybe the full dose would make a difference.