Answer by Mark Myers:
Depression, bi-polar,and anxiety or three different diagnosis's that could all be treated differently. There are varying types of depression but for most part symptoms include: feeling depressed most of day, decrease of enjoyable pursuits, increase or decrease of appetite, fatigue, difficulties concentrating, feeling worthless, and/or suicidal thought. A person who is depressed does not have to feel all of these to have a diagnosis of depression. The specific type of Depression Diagnosis would depend on how many symptoms the person identifies with and severity of symptoms.
Bi-Polar includes the a fore mentioned depression symptoms as well as Manic symptoms. These would include: elevated or irritable moods, involvement activities that have a high potential for injury or consequences, increase in goal directed activities, distractability, flight of ideas, talkative or feeling pressured to talk, inflated self esteem, and decreased need for sleep. Again, there are varying diagnosis's a person could have with bi-polar, and that as well would depend on severity of symptoms. So, bi-polar you have both the depressive symptoms and the manic symptoms.
Anxiety disorders have different categories that a person could be diagnosed with. These include: restlessness, difficulty concentrating, irritability, sleep disturbance, worrying, muscle tension, and in some cases, panic feelings. It is easy to see how some symptoms could overlap. Some individuals have both anxiety and depression. It may be difficult to decipher if a person is anxious because they have been depressed or the opposite. In addition the diagnosis of bi-polar is a possibility as well. To further complicate things, if a person is going the medication route, at times, by just addressing the depressive symptoms puts that individual at risk for a manic attack.
Determining an accurate diagnosis is not always easy. The person diagnosing is dependent on the reporting of the patient. One evaluator may come up with a different diagnosis than another. The person reporting, may under report their symptoms, or misrepresent them. An accurate diagnosis may take some time to determine. Often times, it is helpful to get family members in to offer input with the evaluation.
