Bipolar in Adolescents

March 9th, 2009 Posted in Anxiety and Depression

According to World Health Organization (WHO), the sixth leading cause of disability in the world is bipolar disease and adolescent bipolar.  And the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry has confirmed that a staggering number of 3.4 million children and adolescents may actually be suffering from depression, an early- onset of bipolar disorders, in the United States alone.  Bipolar disease which is a mental illness has been discovered to cause a lot of problems both in how people live and their individual health.

Probable Causes of Adolescent Bipolar

The primary cause of bipolar disorder is when the chemical in the brain becomes imbalanced. Stimulating the neurotransmitters in the brain is needed for the brain to be able to control emotions, perform decisions, make tasks and control physical activities.  When chemical imbalance occurs in the brain, untold damage can happen both in the mind and the human body. The norepinephrine, a chemical in the neurotransmitters, rise to its abnormal level which can cause bipolar disorder. Genetics also play an important part in the causes of the disease. For example; children from parents who have bipolar are also at risk of catching the disease. Bipolar disease does not happen with a single gene but a combination of genes. Other factors like environment can play an important part in promoting the onset of bipolar disease and adolescent bipolar symptoms. Drug use, experiencing periods of stress, illness and other events can stimulate the brain to trigger bipolar symptoms. Even anxiety in children can develop into bipolar disorder.

Signs and Symptoms

The adolescent bipolar disorder is primarily characterized by intense mood episodes. The symptoms of the disease are generally classified into three phases. The manic phase are generally described by symptoms such as feeling unusually happy and silly, short temper, talking very fast about a lot of subjects, trouble sleeping, difficulty to maintain focus and fondness of doing risky things. Children and teens who manifest depressive episodes were observed to feel very sad, often complain about pain, sleep to little or too much, feel guilty and worthless, suffer eating disorders, lose interest of the things the they used to like and think about death and suicide a lot. The mixed episode refers to the mood episodes that exhibit both the symptoms of the manic and depressive bipolar phases.

Treatment available for Adolescent Bipolar Disorder

Adolescents with bipolar disorder have been cured, so the illness is treatable. In order to effectively treat bipolar, early diagnosis and a good and proper plan for the diagnosis is very important. And those children already showing signs of personality change due to extreme moodiness, depression along with eating disorders and suicidal tendencies must be recommended for treatment as soon as possible.

Certain medications and therapy are usually given to patients to treat bipolar disorder. Depending on the complexities of bipolar in children;   they may need to take more than one drug. Therapy or psychotherapy made especially for children or adolescent are also known as talk therapy. This treatment is designed to help patients deal with their sickness.

Helping your Child

Bipolar disease developed by children at their early stage can be more severe than those experienced by children at older ages. The mood swings seen in young children is more severe than that compared to teens and adults. The mood swings can go for days, weeks, months or can even stay with the person for the rest of his/her life. Parents must take the proactive role in facing and understanding the nature of early-onset of this disease. The disease must not be taken lightly because of the extreme risks and behavior the disease can inflict on the person.