Objective: A considerable portion of young adults initially diagnosed as unipolar depression could be potentially bipolar patients. Experiences of manic or hypomanic symptoms and other comorbid psychiatric illnesses among college students with major depressive disorder were evaluated in a community sample.
Methods: A total of 2,052 college students living in a dormitory completed a web-based questionnaire in September 2007. The questionnaire included demographics and the Patient Rated Version of Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview.
Results: 85(4.1%) students reported the experience of major depressive episode (MDE) during the past year. 2(2.4%) and 29(34.1%) out of the 85 reported the experience of manic and hypomanic episode during the lifetime. Experiences of depressive symptoms did not differ between unipolar and bipolar students. Hypomanic symptoms that more frequently experienced by bipolar students than by unipolar students were elevated mood, grandiosity, thought racing, and hyperactivity. Bipolar students had more agoraphobia, social phobia, alcohol abuse, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, and psychotic disorder than unipolar students. Unipolar students had more alcohol dependence than bipolar students. However, the differences of the comorbidity were not statistically significant, which could be due to small sample size.
Conclusions: A large portion of the respondents with MDE experienced hypomanic symptoms. This implies that college students presenting MDE symptoms should be explored to identify hidden hypomanic experiences. Hypomanic symptoms, especially elevated mood, grandiosity, thought racing, and hyperactivity could help to distinguish bipolar students from unipolar students. College students with bipolar disorder seem to have higher comorbid axis I psychiatric disorder than unipolar students.