Treatment-Emergent Hypomania Or Bipolar Disorder? A Case Report

Objective: this case report highlights the clinical dilemmas encountered in deciding the diagnostic status of persons with unipolar depression who develop hypomania during antidepressant/ electroconvulsive therapy. methods: we report a case of a 52 year-old chinese lady, diagnosed with unipolar depression, which developed hypomania after she was started on t. fluvoxamine 100mg daily and completed 8 sessions of electroconvulsive therapy. results: her diagnosis was revised to bipolar disorder and she was treated with t. sodium valproate 400mg twice daily after which she improved. conclusion: treatment-emergent hypomania is likely a subtype of bipolar spectrum disorder and patients with treatment - emergent hypomania should be treated as bipolar disorder