I have been diagnosed as being bi-polar but suspect the psychiatrist listed this primarily for insurance purposes. I'm sure I'm not bi-polar I, however, because my predominant problem is depression, not mania. And when I do have manias, they're normally pretty mild, certainly compared to a number of folks I've known who are bi-polar I and can go off the wall. I can get quite animated but stay off the walls! LOL

I recently had a psychiatrist tell me that the difference between I and II was the duration, not the symptoms, but I didn't agree with his definition. (That's primarily because I'm an educational neuropsychologist and so do know a bit about mental illness from an academic as well as experiential perspective.)

I've suffered from pretty severe depression since '08 when my mother--my last remaining family member--to whom I was very close, died. This shrink did get me off Zoloft and onto Mirtazapine. It worked wonders for about 3 weeks and I felt back to my old self (prior to my mother's death) but that didn't last long, although it has definitely helped. Although I do still get pretty depressed, it's generally neither as deep or as long as before I began taking this Rx.

I'm interested in hearing what folks know about the difference between these two types of bi-polar illness, particularly anyone who's been diagnosed with bi-polar II.