It is treated like a serious mental illness likened to schizophrenia. I think just like where you live (ICD-10 I assume) BP is here on page 89 depending on who is reading the same manuals It could be looser or stricter definition.

I know here we avoid hospitalization almost at all costs. So if it's send them home drugged out of their mind until they see s specialist (takes 2-6 months here) or put them in crisis care or the hospital. You'll be sent home drugged. Usually most are treated by GP's for depression and deal with the consequences of mania through legal trouble. So by the time we get into the mental health system your whole lives are almost irreparable. Therapy has always been looked down upon in general population. I have never or will I ever hear a GP recommended therapy. They probably would loose far to many clients. Even getting into the hospital is horrible and if you don't have insurance forget even trying.

In the general population yes it's treated like a joke. Even on this board we're confused when exactly hypo mania trips into mania or when we're down vs. life threateningly depressed and we live with this disorder. A lot of people that use GP's have former dx's and are refered back to their GP for maintenance for the next 6 mths- a year.

I think everyone here takes their illness seriously, or they wouldn't be on a forum talking about it. There has been the BP I vs. II argument here several times. I do not think that BPII would be labeled as depressed if it was in an ICD-10 country. We seem to be very skeptical about the health industry and treat mental illness like they should be institutionalized. This is only because most that have committed crimes or drug offences here do have some form of mental illness.