Mood swings, sleep loss, racing thoughts, energy crashes. At Core Spring Diagnostics, one psychologist owns your evaluation from start to finish, building an individualized picture for children, teens, and adults who suspect bipolar disorder is part of the story. Getting started takes no referral and no doctor's note.
Our evaluations build a complete picture of mood patterns and emotional functioning, looking carefully at depressive lows alongside elevated periods like hypomania or mania. We assess sleep changes, energy shifts, impulsivity, racing thoughts, grandiosity, irritability, and the role of family history. Every evaluation starts with a cognitive and executive function baseline, then screens for ADHD, anxiety, depression, and trauma-related patterns. One psychologist owns the process from intake through feedback.
Children showing intense mood swings, irritability, sleep disruption, or periods of unusually high energy, impulsivity, or risk-taking.
Teens cycling between low moods and elevated periods, with risk-taking behavior, irritability, or breakdowns in school functioning.
Adults facing ongoing mood instability, energy fluctuations, impulsive decisions, or strain on relationships, work, and daily functioning.
Your evaluation begins with a one-hour clinical interview where your psychologist gathers a thorough history of mood patterns, energy levels, and behavioral changes from childhood through your current daily life. This conversation is critical for identifying the cycling patterns that distinguish bipolar disorder from other mood conditions and for selecting the right assessments.
Your psychologist selects a personalized battery of mood and psychological assessments designed to capture the full range of your experiences. Testing involves 2 to 6 hours of in-person evaluation over one to two days. You will also be sent home with self-report questionnaires, and someone close to you can complete their own to provide perspective on mood and behavioral patterns over time. If your psychologist identifies signs of other conditions (such as ADHD, anxiety, or depression), those areas are screened for as well.
All testing data, clinical observations, and questionnaire results are compiled into a detailed diagnostic report. Accurate differential diagnosis is especially important with bipolar disorder, so your psychologist carefully evaluates mood patterns, episode history, and symptom presentation. Any co-occurring conditions are fully documented.
Approximately two to three weeks after testing, you return for a feedback session. Your psychologist walks through the diagnosis and provides individualized recommendations: treatment planning, evidence-based therapy options, medication considerations, lifestyle management strategies, and next steps tailored to your situation. dummy text ever since the 1500s.
The process starts with a consultation call or intake request through the Core Spring Diagnostics website. During intake, the team gathers information about your concerns and mood history, then determines the right evaluation scope. Most people presenting with bipolar concerns benefit most from a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation, which covers cognitive functioning, executive skills, mood, and co-occurring conditions all within a single, coordinated process.
It can provide important context, though medication decisions are not part of what Core Spring Diagnostics offers. What an evaluation can do is identify whether there are co-occurring conditions that may be contributing to treatment response, and it can document the full clinical picture in a report that treating clinicians can use to guide their decisions. A comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is often particularly useful for this kind of clarifying purpose.
Executive function, which covers skills like planning, organization, emotional regulation, and cognitive flexibility, can be affected during mood episodes in bipolar disorder and may also show chronic impairment independent of mood states. The cognitive and executive function baseline built into every Core Spring Diagnostics evaluation captures this directly, helping the psychologist understand the relationship between mood patterns and day-to-day functioning.
Yes. Standardized rating scales and questionnaires are part of the evaluation process and help capture mood history, behavioral patterns, and symptom severity in a structured way. The psychologist uses these alongside the clinical interview and cognitive testing to build a complete clinical picture. Questionnaires may be sent to the individual in advance and, when relevant, to collateral informants such as a partner or family member.
The key distinguishing factor is the presence of hypomanic or manic episodes, which depression alone does not include. During the clinical interview, the psychologist explores mood episode history in detail, asking about periods of elevated energy, decreased need for sleep, rapid thoughts, and impulsive behavior. Standardized instruments that assess both depressive and hypomanic/manic symptoms are used alongside cognitive testing to ensure the distinction is made with confidence.
Call Core Spring Diagnostics at (414) 387-2100 or submit a consultation request through the website. The intake team will walk you through the options and help you determine whether a focused bipolar assessment or a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation is the right fit.
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