5. Conclusion
Bipolar disorder is highly prevalent in samples of depressed
patients and can easily be missed, which can have negative
consequences. Careful clinical assessment, including screening
for bipolar disorder by investigating whether there is a history of
manic or hypomanic episodes (by using a scale like the MDQ), can
help substantially with correctly identifying patients with bipolar
disorder. Although there are multiple validated instruments to
diagnose major depressive episodes, most do not address the
bipolar versus unipolar diagnostic challenge.