Is it possible for a person to be Bipolar if they have never had a hypomanic or manic episode
That's not the only thing though - Bipolar usually crops up in the late teen years and the early adulthood (though it can be seen in children) and for me, personally, the depressed episodes happened, and then the mania came.
Also, mania is an elation; a high for most people. They feel so good, they rarely notice thier own mania. Depression is much, much easier to notice than mania.
The best thing to do is talk a liscensed psychiatrist, who could diagnose and begin treatment for bipolar disorder.
Good luck!
Oh this is annoying. You can be bipolar/ manic depressive without anyone including yourself ever seeing the manic episodes. Everyone and their illnesses are different. I am manic depressive and have been for over a decade. I also have obsessive compulsive disorder. On top of that I have a heart condition that went unnoticed until I was 16. Most people have no clue about any of these problems until I tell them with rare exceptions to my heart condition giving me problems. People never saw my manic episodes because I swung much more and much longer in the depression side. The manic would come but I just saw them as a few rare days of being happy from time to time and everyone else just thought I was being giddy. Most everyone never even knew how severe my depression was, so when my mother had me comitted it was a bit shocking to them. YES, you can have problems that people don't notice, that your friends don't really catch on to, and that you yourself don't even fully see until it is presented to you. This site may help you in this. http://www.bipolar.com/recognizing_bipol...
It's very possible, because with all that I've said, I've been medication and therapist free for over five years with only the starting of episodes because I've learned my switches and how to handle them.
Well, my only manic episodes were insanity.. and that's not even technically mania.
But I'm diagnosed as Bi-Polar. I take the Bi-Polar meds, too.
So, yes, it's possible to be diagnosed as bi-polar and never have hypomanic or manic episodes.