Guide to getting rid of bipolar disorder

Most therapy professionals using children and adolescents are acutely conscious of the rise in the rate at which children and adolescents, but most significantly pre-pubescent children, are being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. While estimates alter from article to article, it is fascinating to note several recently reported statistics.

The New York Times, in an article released in September of 2007, noted that in the 10 year span from 1993 to 2003, there was a forty-fold rise in the rate at which this population was being diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, while a more scholarly article (Youngstrom, 2005) noted that marked increases had been located in the rate of diagnosing in kids of those worried about Child Protective Services in Illinois. Other writers have pointed to this sharp rise in the rate, some positively (NYT, 2007, Papalos and Papalos, 2006), even saying that there has to be even more of an increase. Others, nevertheless, have expressed alarm at this sharp increase, and have pleaded with professionals to have a more conservative approach to diagnosing this in pre-adults.

There is much debate in this line of business, hotly opinioned views, and contention in this line of business brought out by the enormous gulf between the most liberal, and the most conservative, relating to this diagnosis. To some level, this divide is apparent between Psychiatrists and Psychologists, and indeed, the previously noted NY Times article pointed out that 90% of the diagnosing of Bipolar Disorder in kids was being done by psychiatrists. Nonetheless, there are quite a few other mental health specialists, including psychologists and other non-psychiatric folk in this line of business, who take the liberal approach shared by many psychiatrists.

What Drives us to Diagnose Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents?
For those who advocate earlier diagnosing, one of the ordinarily quoted reasons is prevention: avoidance of a poor childhood, avoidance of academic difficulties, avoidance of social failure, avoidance of kindling, etc.

The risk, advocates of earlier diagnosing opine, is that failure to act is a disservice to the youngster, and to those involved in the child’s life. This has been the stated reason driving such professionals as Dr. Dimitri Papalos and his wife, Janice Papalos, and of others, and indeed, any professional with any modicum of empathy has most certainly considered this when reflecting on a case of possible Bipolar Disorder in a child or adolescent.

For, if indeed, allowing a child to move through their childhood without correct therapy sentences them to a substandard future, who among us would hesitate to act? The issue is that it’s not entirely clear that we have gotten this right, and it is most by no means clear that what seems to be Bipolar Disorder in kids will follow the youngster into adulthood.

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