Bipolar in Teens
Diagnosing Bipolar Disorder in Adolescents
Before the 1990s, it was believed that children under the age of eighteen would have been rarely diagnoses with bipolar disorder. This all changed in the mid-1990s when there were 800,000 children labeled with bipolar disease and an astonishing number were under the age of five (Carmichael, 2008). The controversial findings have alerted psychiatrists and psychologists that the disease is much more common than originally thought (Carmichael, 2008).
According to a recent article Children labeled bipolar, psychiatrists have been discontent with the number of children being labeled with bipolar disorder at alarming rates. Dr. Janet Woziak, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School of psychiatry, was educated with the idea that a professional in the psychiatric field would only see one or two cases of a child with bipolar disorder in a lifetime because of the rarity. Woziak, along with the famous Harvard child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman, felt that there were a number of children whose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) problems seemed to stem beyond the normal anger characteristics of ADHD ("Children labeled ’bipolar’," 2010). Doctors Biederman and Woziak both professors and researchers at Harvard Medical School, published research in 1995 to reflect a much more violent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with children showing signs of heightened uncontrollable temper tantrums, violent hitting, screaming and kicking beyond the normal irritability. These signs included children not being able to regulate impulses (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1995). Wozniak and Biederman co–authored the research paper that explained the differences between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, adolescent bipolar
Before the 1990s, it was believed that children under the age of eighteen would have been rarely diagnoses with bipolar disorder. This all changed in the mid-1990s when there were 800,000 children labeled with bipolar disease and an astonishing number were under the age of five (Carmichael, 2008). The controversial findings have alerted psychiatrists and psychologists that the disease is much more common than originally thought (Carmichael, 2008).
According to a recent article Children labeled bipolar, psychiatrists have been discontent with the number of children being labeled with bipolar disorder at alarming rates. Dr. Janet Woziak, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School of psychiatry, was educated with the idea that a professional in the psychiatric field would only see one or two cases of a child with bipolar disorder in a lifetime because of the rarity. Woziak, along with the famous Harvard child psychiatrist Dr. Joseph Biederman, felt that there were a number of children whose attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) problems seemed to stem beyond the normal anger characteristics of ADHD ("Children labeled ’bipolar’," 2010). Doctors Biederman and Woziak both professors and researchers at Harvard Medical School, published research in 1995 to reflect a much more violent attention deficit hyperactivity disorder with children showing signs of heightened uncontrollable temper tantrums, violent hitting, screaming and kicking beyond the normal irritability. These signs included children not being able to regulate impulses (Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 1995). Wozniak and Biederman co–authored the research paper that explained the differences between attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, adolescent bipolar
References: American Psychiatric Association. (APA). (2000). Diagnosis and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.) Washington, DC: Apps, J., Winkler, J., & Jandrisevits, M Borrell, B. (2010). Time to reexamine bipolar diagnoses in children. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/17/health/la-he-pro-con-20100517` Carmichael, M Children labeled ’bipoloar’ may get a new diagnosis: NPR. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId-123544191 Fritz, G Kaplan, S. L. (2011, June 19). Mommy, am I really bipolar. The Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/06/19/mommy-am-i-really-bipolar.html Marshall, R Shaffer, D. R., & Kipp, K. (2010). Developmental psychology: Childhood and adolescence. (8th ed). Belmont,CA: Wadsworth cengage learning. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes Of Health. (2008). In Bipolar disorder in children and teens: a parent’s guide (pp. 1-22). Retrieved from http:www.nimh.nih.gove/health/publications/bipolar