Diagnosing And Treating Bipolar Children

November 21st, 2009 Posted in Anxiety and Depression

For most of the 20th century, the psychiatric profession did not believe there could be bipolar children. Manic depression, also called bipolar disorder, was considered to be something that only emerged in adults, despite some contrary evidence a few early researchers seemed to have that certain symptoms in adults had manifested before they were ten. What resulted was that all manic depression treatments were for adults. It was difficult to find any reliable bipolar data about either symptoms or treatments for children, for a very long time.

Things have gotten better to some degree; certainly the current treatments have greatly improved the situation. But another reason why it’s hard to treat bipolar disorder is that the symptoms tend to overlap with those of other disorders. For example, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may resemble bipolar disorder in its manic phase. Bipolar children with those symptoms are often diagnosed only because they are more aggressive, with more behavioral problems, than if they only had ADHD. With such overlapping of symptoms, what this means is that diagnosing the problem and finding the right medical treatments is very difficult.

Anxiety disorders can also be an indicator that doctors should watch for manic depression as well, since children with these disorders are more likely also to develop bipolar disorder. Children with bipolar disorder may often have had treatment already for full-blown depressive episodes, which served as precursors for the later illness. Even irritability and hypersensitivity might be warning signs, if they last for days at a time.

Diagnosis is controversial, though, because children with bipolar disorder are much more likely to be diagnosed in the United States than in other parts of the world. Interpretations vary on whether this is because there is simply over diagnosis in the U.S., or whether US doctors are simply recognizing a problem that really exists. Bipolar info and interpretation of symptoms varies considerably from country to country.

What will also vary between countries as a result will be the treatments for manic depression. But it’s important to establish the accuracy of the diagnosis, because the disorder appears to be much more intense for bipolar children than for adults. Using antipsychotic drug products unnecessarily could lead to the risk of liver damage, diabetes and heart problems for the children. Yet if they aren’t used when needed, then there are other high risks, such as psychosis, cognitive impairment or even suicide. Only if the correct diagnosis is made can the children be helped and the very best treatments be chosen.

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