Question 1

What kind of doctor is best for bipolar disorder?

Accepted Answer

A psychiatrist — a physician who can diagnose bipolar I and bipolar II, prescribe and monitor mood stabilizers, and follow you over time — is the right doctor for this. Therapists and psychologists matter in bipolar care, but they can't prescribe, and the medication decisions are often where this condition is won or lost. I see patients in person at my Union Square and Upper West Side offices, and I handle both the prescribing and the therapy myself.

Question 2

What is the difference between bipolar I and bipolar II?

Accepted Answer

Bipolar I involves at least one full manic episode — elevated or irritable mood severe enough to disrupt work, relationships, or safety. Bipolar II involves hypomania, a milder high, alongside depressive episodes that usually dominate the picture. Two things can be true: bipolar II looks quieter, and it's often the harder one to catch, because people come in during the depression and no one asks about the highs.

Question 3

What are the signs of bipolar disorder?

Accepted Answer

The signs run in two directions — elevated periods with a shrinking need for sleep, racing thoughts, unusual confidence or spending, pressured talking; and depressive periods of low mood, low energy, and loss of interest. A shrinking need for sleep, where you feel rested on far less than usual, is one of the most specific early warnings of an emerging manic or hypomanic episode. A checklist can raise the question. It can't answer it — that takes a careful evaluation of your whole story over time.

Question 4

Can bipolar disorder be misdiagnosed as depression?

Accepted Answer

Yes, often. People with bipolar II spend far more time depressed than elevated, so they're frequently treated for years as having depression alone. The tell is often what happened on prior antidepressants — feeling wired or agitated, or several adequate trials that never quite worked. The mistake runs the other way too: mood instability driven by trauma or ADHD sometimes gets labeled bipolar when it isn't. Getting this right is most of what a thorough evaluation is for.

Question 5

How is bipolar disorder diagnosed?

Accepted Answer

Through a detailed clinical evaluation — your history of mood episodes over time, sleep patterns, family history, past medication responses, and screening for hypomania you may not have registered as a problem — not a blood test or a single questionnaire. Hypomania rarely walks into the office; it lives in the story, and sometimes in what family noticed before you did. I'd rather take the time to be right than be fast, and I'll tell you what I'm thinking as we go.

Question 6

How is bipolar disorder treated?

Accepted Answer

The foundation is a mood stabilizer chosen for your situation, paired with psychotherapy and real attention to sleep and daily rhythm. Each option carries trade-offs worth naming plainly — lithium has the strongest long-term evidence and asks for periodic lab monitoring; lamotrigine helps prevent depressive relapse but does little for mania; other medications differ in sedation and metabolic effects. Antidepressants alone deserve real caution in bipolar depression. Medication helps, and it isn't the whole answer — therapies built for bipolar disorder, like interpersonal and social rhythm therapy, work alongside it.

Question 7

How does paying out of network work?

Accepted Answer

I don't bill insurance directly. You pay for your visits, and I provide a superbill — an itemized receipt — that you submit to your insurer for whatever out-of-network reimbursement your plan offers. Many plans reimburse a meaningful portion, and your insurer can tell you your out-of-network mental health benefits before we start. The trade-off is real: you pay up front, and in return the visit is shaped by what you need, not by what a plan allows.

Question 8

Do I need a bipolar treatment center, or is one psychiatrist enough?

Accepted Answer

For most adults with bipolar I or II who are safe and able to live at home, outpatient care with one psychiatrist who does the evaluation, the prescribing, and the follow-through is a well-established option — you don't need a bipolar treatment center. A treatment center is for crisis — a structured program, round-the-clock supervision. Continuity is the quiet advantage of a solo practice: the same physician who diagnosed you notices when your sleep starts to shift. And the boundary is worth naming plainly — if you're in danger, or an episode is escalating past what outpatient care can hold, a hospital program is the right level, and part of my job is saying so.

Bipolar Psychiatrist in NYC

Before We Name It, Let's Understand It

Need Urgent Assistance?

My Colleagues and I Teach at Harvard & Columbia

The Story Behind the Mood

Formulation Over Label

Less Is More

I Watch the Fluctuations

What to expect during your first visit with me

The Bipolar Spectrum, Told as Stories

Bipolar 1 and the full manic episode

Bipolar 2 and hypomania

Cyclothymia and mixed features

Bipolar depression that looks unipolar

"My brain won't slow down"

Rapid cycling

High-functioning bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder in women

Comorbidities and medical mimics

Relapse prevention and warning signs

My Office Locations in New York

Upper West Side

Union Square

Questions Before We Begin

Reach Out To Learn More

About Dr. Kavin Fatehchand

"I was told it was just depression for years"