Childhood Bipolar Disorder: Symptoms, Diagnosis And Treatment

Warning Signs

If a parent or grandparent or an older sibling has had bipolar disorder, chances are the younger child can also have it. No sense fussing about the possibilities; you ought to be aware of the symptoms, the effects, the treatments possible for your child.

Typical of the disorder are the mood swings in your child or teenager. The quick and extreme mood changes without any apparent reason or cause should be cause for concern for any parent. You ought to be able to tell if your child continually swings from mania to low levels of depression, and mind you, all this can occur even within a single day!

The highs of mania in children and teens may manifest themselves in violent tantrums, extreme irritability of the child, the use of sexual language, overly and increasingly aggressive sexual behavior, sleeplessness, hyperactivity. At a depressed level, your child may feel inexplicably sad or endlessly bored, may have recurrent stomach aches or head aches and muscle pains, signs of over-fatigue or easy tiredness, may manifest feelings of rejection, over-sensitivity to criticism, and bouts of loneliness and need to be left alone.

Diagnosis

Bipolar disorder in children and teens is sometimes confused with ADHD or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Sometimes, the disorder is misconstrued for an alcohol or drug abuse problem. Bipolar disorder can actually occur in tandem with these aforementioned problems. It is very likely that your child can have other problems aside from the disorder. Accepting that probability will make you more objective in assessing whether your child may already be having alcohol or drug abuse problems, school problems, fighting, and worse, suicide.

If you are worried about your child’s behavior, make sure to seek professional advice. Doctors or psychiatrists will need all the help they can get from you in making a preliminary assessment of your child’s condition. You need to be very honest in answering the doctor’s questions. There may even be tests or questionnaires that you need to answer or your child to answer or undergo such as blood tests or drug tests, aside of course from the psychological tests that may have to be administered.

Can Your Child's Bipolar Disorder be Treated?

Only you can answer that question. Your conviction to help your child and the fact that you accept that your child may need professional help is the paramount step you need to take. Counseling for your child and for you may have to be introduced to aid medications. As a parent, you need to ensure that your child takes the medicine prescribed and undergoes the therapy required. You must also be open-minded enough to accept that medications and therapy may not be enough as other forms of treatment may be introduced, even non-conventional ones in extreme cases.

You ought to be aware though of the side effects of medication or the accompanying stress of therapy and other treatment forms. Supporting your child will mean more than getting him the medicine. Support is best manifested in full acceptance and understanding that the child has a condition and is not basically a bad child. Only then will you be able to distinguish between the symptoms of bipolar disorder and the normal activities of your child.

The cycling of bipolar disorder in children, unfortunately, is more frequent and rapid than in adults. So you need to be ready for the persistent recurrence of the highs and lows of bipolar disorder. To make matters worse, it is also possible for other psychiatric conditions to be present and later diagnosed together with the bipolar disorder. Childhood bipolar disorder is no simple matter. Sometimes it comes in a package with depression, ADHD, and even schizophrenia. As a parent, you have a responsibility to fully support your child and seek professional help as early as possible.