Bipolar disorder in children

Bipolar disorder in children

Bipolar disorder (BD), previously called manic-depressive disorder, is a type of mood disorder characterized by periods of extremely elevated or irritable mood, which can sometimes alternate with episodes of depression. It can be diagnosed in children as young as preschool. The lifetime prevalence of BD is between 0.5 to 1.6%, and the prevalence may be as high as 1% in youths alone.[10] When diagnosed in children, BD is most commonly characterized by increased energy, distractibility, pressured speech, irritable mood, grandiosity, and elevated mood. [2] BD is an increasingly common diagnosis in children, due to several factors including an expansion of diagnosis criteria from classic manic depressive symptoms to more general manic symptoms, availability of knowledge of BD in children, and desire for insurance reimbursement for treating symptomatic behaviors. [1, 2, 3] More than 60% of adults with BD report having their first mood episode before the age of 19, as the typical age of onset is during adolescence. [1]