The Clues
  • Depression started during your teen years.
  • One or both of your parents were substance abusers.
  • Depression and irritability are part of your family tree.
  • There is a family history of completed suicide.
  • Sometimes you need a lot of sleep while other times you can get by on just a few hours.
  • You've been divorced three times by age 40.
  • You had serious postpartum depression.
  • You don't like the taste of alcohol, but it is the only way you can calm down.
  • Sometimes you feel better than well.
  • Your credit cards are charged to the max (and it was stuff you really didn't need).
  • You have too many speeding tickets.
  • You feel like you have a motor running in your body.
  • Your thoughts go so fast; you don't know what you're thinking.
  • At night, your mind is like a movie, you wish you could just turn off.
  • You start a lot of projects, but when your energy goes down, you can't finish any of them.
  • Sometimes your temper flares up out of nowhere. You throw and break things.
  • Antidepressants make you feel hyper or spacey or even more depressed.
  • You eat and sleep more when you are depressed.
  • Sometimes you get chatty and run up big (really big) phone bills.
  • You change jobs frequently.
  • Winter makes you seriously depressed.
  • People used to come to you to get things done, but now you don't feel like you can do anything.
  • You've been sent for drug and alcohol counseling, but you know your problems are deeper than that.
  • You have mood swings.
  • You work longer hours than you really need to.
  • You have relatives with thyroid disease.
  • You travel impulsively.
  • You gamble excessively.
  • When you get depressed, you get really nervous and agitated too.
  • The doctors keep giving you pills but can't figure out why your depression isn't getting better.

    • Reprinted with permission from 'Why Your Depression Isn't Getting Better: The Epidemic of Undiagnosed Bipolar Disorders' by Michael R. Bartos, MD., ISBN 0-595-12209-4, Published September 2000, iUniverse.com

    View all articles by David Oliver