Information provided by Healthyplace Bipolar Community
Bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depression) is a serious but treatable medical illness. It is a disorder of the brain marked by extreme changes in mood, energy, thinking and behavior. Symptoms may be present since infancy or early childhood, or may suddenly emerge in adolescence or adulthood. Until recently, a diagnosis of the disorder was rarely made in childhood. Doctors can now recognize and treat bipolar disorder in young children.
Early intervention and treatment offer the best chance for children with emerging bipolar disorder to achieve stability, gain the best possible level of wellness, and grow up to enjoy their gifts and build upon their strengths. Proper treatment can minimize the adverse effects of the illness on their lives and the lives of those who love them.
It is not known, because studies are lacking. However, bipolar disorder affects an estimated 1-2 percent of adults worldwide. The more we learn about this disorder, the more prevalent it appears to be among children. It is suspected that a significant number of children diagnosed in the United States with attention-deficit disorder with hyperactivity (ADHD) have early-onset bipolar disorder instead of, or along with, ADHD.According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, up to one-third of the 3.4 million children and adolescents with depression in the United States may actually be experiencing the early onset of bipolar disorder.
Bipolar disorder involves marked changes in mood and energy. In most adults with the illness, persistent states of extreme elation or agitation accompanied by high energy are called mania. Persistent states of extreme sadness or irritability accompanied by low energy are called depression.
However, the illness looks different in children than it does in adults. Children usually have an ongoing, continuous mood disturbance that is a mix of mania and depression. This rapid and severe cycling between moods produces chronic irritability and few clear periods of wellness between episodes.
Symptoms may include:
Symptoms of bipolar disorder can emerge as early as infancy. Mothers often report that children later diagnosed with the disorder were extremely difficult to settle and slept erratically. They seemed extraordinarily clingy, and from a very young age often had uncontrollable, seizure-like tantrums or rages out of proportion to any event. The word "no" often triggered these rages.
Several ongoing studies are further exploring characteristics of affected children. Researchers are studying, with promising results, the effectiveness and safety of adult treatments in children.
In adolescents, bipolar disorder may resemble any of the following classical adult presentations of the illness.
Bipolar I. In this form of the disorder, the adolescent experiences alternating episodes of intense and sometimes psychotic mania and depression.
Symptoms of mania include:
Symptoms of depression include:
Any talk about wanting to die, or asking why they were born or wishing they were never born must be taken very seriously as even quite young children can hang themselves in the shower, shoot themselves or complete suicide by other means.
Periods of relative or complete wellness occur between the episodes.
Once the illness starts, episodes tend to recur and worsen without treatment. Studies show that after symptoms first appear, typically there is a 10-year lag until treatment begins. Parents are encouraged to take their adolescent for an evaluation if four or more of the above symptoms persist for more than two weeks. Early intervention and treatment can make all the difference in the world during this critical time of development.