I'm in the US, and I think it might have something to do with the lifestyle here. If we got rid of the fast-paced, fast food, "quick fix" lifestyle, I think we'd see a huge reduction in cases of mental illness. On one hand our bodies can't keep up with it, but on another, we have people demanding psychiatric medication for problems that don't require it. Damn those "quick fixes."

I would have to assume that the kind of bipolar that's over-diagnosed would be Bipolar II, though? Mania is fairly unmistakeable and generally results in hospitalization, and one manic episode is all it takes to get a Bipolar I diagnosis in accordance with the DSM-V. If someone's had a manic episode, they most certainly are Bipolar, but Bipolar II is a trickier diagnosis and frequently overlaps with BPD.

I'm almost glad for the manic episode that got me hospitalized. Whenever I want to doubt that I have this or say oh, maybe I'm part of the over-diagnosed crowd, I have to think back to that. I thought I was a god because I'd regenerated the nerve in my deaf ear. (It was quite the hallucination while it lasted.) I also thought I'd willed myself not to feel the pain of the needle when they drew my blood and declared I'd be famous for rewriting and revolutionizing all English teaching curriculum.