Sleep-Related Hypomanic Symptoms as a Predictor of Bipolar Spectrum Disorders

Because this piece has no abstract, we have provided for your benefit the first 3 sentences of the full text.

Sir: Deciding whether to prescribe antidepressants for the depressed patients with bipolar spectrum disorders remains a challenge for clinicians. Two most-feared potential consequences of using antidepressants in patients with bipolar spectrum disorders are triggering a manic switch and/or generating a rapid cycling course of the disease.¹ Experts have long tried to recognize the depressed patients who are at a greater risk for switching to mania; thus, several symptoms have been suggested as “soft signs” of bipolarity, including hypersomnia, psychomotor retardation, young age at onset of depression, family history of bipolar disorder, drug-induced hypomania, seasonality of the episodes, and diurnal variation of the symptoms.²