Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression)
Bipolar disorder (manic-depressive illness) is a serious but treatable medical illness that occurs in all age groups. It is a disorder of the brain marked by extreme changes in mood, energy 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. Child psychiatrists can now recognize and treat bipolar disorder in very young children.
Early intervention and treatment offer the best chance for children with pediatric bipolar disorder to achieve mood stability, gain the best possible level of wellness and develop normally. Proper treatment can minimize the adverse effects of this illness on the lives of these children and their families.
How can I help a child with bipolar disorder?
Parents concerned about their child's behavior, especially frequent, severe, mood swings, depression, periods of "hyperactivity" accompanied by decreased need for sleep and hypersexuality should have the child evaluated by a board-certified child and adolescent psychiatrist familiar with the symptoms and treatment of pediatric bipolar disorders.
There is not a blood test, genetic test or brain scan that can establish a diagnosis of bipolar disorder.
How common is bipolar disorder in children?
Bipolar disorder affects an estimated 1 percent of adults, children and adolescents worldwide. It is the most common psychotic disorder in all age groups.
It is thought 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
What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder in children?
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 can look different in children than it does in adults. Children frequently 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. Bipolar children typically have 4-5 severe mood swings/day and are more irritable than euphoric.
Symptoms may include:
- An expansive or irritable mood
- Depression
- Rapidly changing moods lasting minutes to hours
- Explosive, lengthy, and often destructive rages
- Sleeping little or, alternatively, sleeping too much
- Excessive involvement in multiple projects and activities
- Impaired judgment, impulsivity, racing thoughts and pressured speech
- Inappropriate or precocious sexual behavior
- Grandiose belief in own abilities that defy the laws of logic (ability to fly, for example)
What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder in adolescents?
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:
- Elevated, expansive or irritable mood
- Decreased need for sleep
- Racing speech and pressure to keep talking
- Grandiose delusions
- Excessive involvement in pleasurable but risky activities
- Increased physical and mental activity
- Poor judgment
- In severe cases, hallucinations
Symptoms of depression include:
- Pervasive sadness and crying spells
- Sleeping too much or inability to sleep
- Agitation and irritability
- Withdrawal from activities formerly enjoyed
- Drop in grades and inability to concentrate
- Thoughts of death and suicide
- Low energy
- Significant change in appetite
Periods of relative or complete wellness occur between the episodes.
Bipolar II
In this form of the disorder, the adolescent experiences episodes of hypomania between recurrent periods of depression. Hypomania is a markedly elevated or irritable mood accompanied by increased physical and mental energy that last 3-4 days. Bipolar II Disorder is 5-10 times more common than Bipolar I Disorder.
- Cyclothymia
Adolescents with this form of the disorder experience periods of less severe, but definite, mood swings that last a year or more. - Bipolar Disorder NOS (Not Otherwise Specified)
Significant mood symptoms suggestive of Bipolar I, II, or cyclothymia but not sufficient duration or severity to meet criteria for these disorders.
For some adolescents, a loss or other traumatic event may trigger a first episode of depression or mania. Later episodes may occur independently of any obvious stresses, or may worsen with stress. Puberty is a time of risk. In girls, the onset of menses may trigger the illness, and symptoms often vary in severity with the monthly cycle.
Is substance abuse and addiction related to bipolar disorder?
Many teens with untreated bipolar disorder abuse alcohol and drugs. Any child or adolescent who abuses substances should be evaluated for a mood disorder.
Adolescents who seemed normal until puberty and experience a comparatively sudden onset of symptoms are thought to be especially vulnerable to developing addiction to drugs or alcohol. Substances may be readily available among their peers and teens may use them to attempt to control their mood swings and insomnia. If addiction develops, it is essential to treat both the bipolar disorder and the substance abuse at the same time.
What role does genetics or family history play in bipolar disorder?
The illness tends to be highly genetic, but there are clearly environmental factors that influence whether the illness will occur in a particular child. Bipolar disorder can skip generations and take different forms in different individuals.
The small group of studies that have been done vary in the estimate of risk to a given individual:
- For the general population, a conservative estimate of an individual's risk of having full-blown bipolar disorder is 1 percent. Disorders in the bipolar spectrum may affect 4-6%.
- When one parent has bipolar disorder, the risk to each child is l5-30%.
- When both parents have bipolar disorder, the risk increases to 50-75%.
- The risk in siblings and fraternal twins is 15-25%.
- The risk in identical twins is approximately 70%.
The family trees of many children who develop early-onset bipolar disorder include individuals who suffered from substance abuse and/or mood disorders (often undiagnosed).
Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder in Children
Healthy children often have moments when they have difficulty staying still, controlling their impulses, or dealing with frustration. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual IV (DSM-IV) still requires that, for a diagnosis of bipolar disorder, adult criteria must be met. There are as yet no separate criteria for diagnosing children.
Some behaviors by a child, however, should raise a red flag:
- Frequent, severe and prolonged mood swings that continue past the age of 4 years
- Frequent talk of wanting to die or kill themselves
- Trying to jump out of a moving car
- Rages lasting for hours
- Sexual behavior in the absence of abuse
How does bipolar disorder differ from other conditions?
Even when a child's behavior is unquestionably not normal, correct diagnosis remains challenging. Bipolar disorder is often accompanied by symptoms of other psychiatric disorders. In some children, proper treatment for the bipolar disorder clears up the troublesome symptoms thought to indicate another diagnosis. In other children, bipolar disorder may explain only part of a more complicated case that includes neurological, developmental, and other components.
Diagnoses that mask or sometimes occur along (comorbid) with bipolar disorder include:
- Depression
- Conduct Disorder (CD)
- Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (ODD)
- Attention-Deficit Disorder With Hyperactivity (ADHD)
- Panic Disorder
- Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Tourette's Syndrome (TS)
In adolescents, bipolar disorder is often misdiagnosed as:
- Borderline Personality Disorder
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Schizophrenia
The Need for Prompt and Proper Diagnosis
Typically, after symptoms first appear in children, many years often pass before treatment begins, if ever. Meanwhile, the disorder worsens and the child's functioning at home, school, and in the community is progressively more impaired.
The importance of proper diagnosis cannot be overstated. The results of untreated or improperly treated bipolar disorder can include:
- An unnecessary increase in symptomatic behaviors leading to removal from school, placement in a residential treatment center, hospitalization in a psychiatric hospital, or incarceration in the juvenile justice system
- The development of personality disorders such as narcissistic, antisocial and borderline personality
- A worsening of the disorder due to incorrect medications
- Drug abuse, accidents and suicide
It is important to remember that a diagnosis is not a scientific fact. It is a considered opinion based upon the behavior of the child over time, what is known of the child's family history, the child's response to medications, his or her developmental stage, the current state of scientific knowledge and the training and experience of the doctor making the diagnosis.
These factors (and the diagnosis) can change as more information becomes available. Competent professionals can disagree on which diagnosis fits an individual best. Diagnosis is important, however, because it guides treatment decisions and allows the family to put a name to the condition that affects their child. Diagnosis can provide answers to some questions but raises others that are unanswerable given the current state of scientific knowledge.
Contact us
For additional information on this or any Health Topic, please call the Family Resource Center, 513-636-7606, or your pediatrician.
Written 5/03; Rev. 6/05, 8/07
