Updated 25 September 2015  Bipolar disorder  This mood disorder
is characterised by extreme shifts in mood, energy and
functioning.    Bipolar disorder, also known as manic
depression, is a mood disorder, characterised by extreme shifts
in mood, energy and functioning. More recently this term is also
used to include the more subtle variants of the disorder, called
the soft bipolar spectrum disorders. Bipolar disorder Type I is
much less common than Major Depressive disorder, with 1% of the
general population affected over time. Males and females are
affected equally. The incidence of the soft bipolar spectrum
disorders have not been established yet but it might be as high
as 6% of the general population. It is also still unclear what
the sex ratio of this disorder is.  As a group, the bipolar
disorders entail episodes of depression as well as episodes of
mania/euphoria or hypomania. The switches between these two
states may be fairly sudden and dramatic, but are more commonly
gradual in onset. Both mood state