DEAR DR. GOTT: What are your feelings about bipolar disorder? It is being diagnosed all too frequently these days. In some cases it appears to be just an excuse for bad behavior.
What are the criteria for a legitimate diagnosis? I know there is the manic phase and the depressed phase but it doesn’t explain some of the behavior of some people I’ve known who supposedly suffer from it.
DEAR READER: Initially, I must say it is sometimes impossible to even attempt to explain or understand the behavior of some of the people around us, whether they suffer from bipolar disorder or not. I guess that is a puzzling fact over which we will never have control.
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