I am sure others more experienced than I will comment. I do think one criteria is how debilitating and out of control was the episode. I am talking about the mania, not the depression. Also as only a guide, look over the symptoms for BP II and BP I. The may help you to frame your experience, but still I think you should keep in mind that it is a spectrum disorder. And technically there only needs to be one episode to qualify you as Bipolar.

This is what I think. But I am no expert.