I guess it was only a matter of time before researchers discovered what we all have long suspected — most babies are manic depressive. And not just “most,” but an astonishing 98 percent of them meet the criteria for bipolar disorder, again suggesting the dangers of using adult diagnostic criteria to diagnose mental illness in very young children.
According to an entry over at Beyond Blue:
A new study published in The Journal Of Pediatric Medicine found that a shocking 98 percent of all infants suffer from bipolar disorder. "The majority of our subjects, regardless of size, sex, or race, exhibited extreme mood swings, often crying one minute and then giggling playfully the next," the study's author Dr. Steven Gregory told reporters.
Read the full entry: 98% Of Babies Manic-Depressive.
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6 Comments to
“Most Babies Have Bipolar Disorder”
Check your sources a little better. This post was citing a fake study from the Onion. It’s an April Fool’s joke.
Indeed, the original post over at the spoof site, theonion.com (http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/98_of_babies_manic?utm_source=EMTF_Onion) appeared over a week ago.
after all Am, it was posted on aprils fools day 
Even if it wasn’t an April fools day joke, it contains misinformation. “exhibited extreme mood swings, often crying one minute and then giggling playfully the next” is not bipolar disorder.
-Depressive episodes must last at least 2 weeks
-”Giggling playfully” is not even remotely close to hypomania
In future, make reasonable, funny April fools day jokes, there’s enough misunderstanding over mental illnesses without this.
It appears that the article was more for “laughs” and not something to take seriously. It was certainly a rather cruel “April Fool’s” joke, especially if people aren’t able to differentiate between true data and false data. Or even if someone truly does have a child with bipolar disorder, I’m sure they wouldn’t find this funny. 
There is a lot of misunderstanding of mental illness Mangry, I agree. This is not funny.
Hopefully no one actually believed what was written as a true research finding! What a tragety that would be.
Well I have been diagnosed with cyclothymic disorder and I thought this Onion article was funny because I believe it is overdiagnosed.
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 1 Apr 2009
