Q. I was just wondering if there was a way to know for sure (i.e. extensive analysis of the hippocampus or amygdala) if someone has bipolar disease. Can it be detected at all or are people just diagnosed with bipolar disorder solely by what they say to a psychiatrist?

  A. It is really a clinical diagnosis, and there is no biological test yet available for bipolars. There are no tests available to definitively mark any psychiatric disorder.