It has been a concern for several years now that not all children with bipolar disorder may be getting properly identified because they fall just short of meeting diagnostic criteria for the disorder–criteria that is based on adult experiences.

A new study, conducted by researchers from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the Archives of General Psychiatry, has examined the characteristics of children and adolescents who have symptoms of mania. This study is the first of its kind to delineate the types of symptoms seen in children with bipolar spectrum disorders.

The results of the study show that a significant number of children who presented with symptoms of bipolar disorder were just below the threshold of meeting the two primary classifications of bipolar disorder, mostly due to the fact that their manic episodes did not last long enough. However, these youth with “sub-threshold” mania were similar in most ways to children and adolescents who met the full diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder.

While some children with bipolar disorder have distinct episodes of manic symptoms that last for many days or weeks at a time, just like it classically presents in adults with bipolar disorder, little is known about children who have very clear periods of manic symptoms that do not last for several days. The results from this study suggest that some of these children are likely to have bipolar disorder

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    Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 4 Oct 2006
    Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.