Bipolar Illness Soars As A Diagnosis For The Young

Bipolar disorder is characterized by extreme mood swings. Until relatively recently, it was thought to emerge almost exclusively in adulthood. But in the 1990s, psychiatrists began looking more closely for symptoms in younger patients. Some experts say greater awareness, reflected in the increasing diagnoses, is letting youngsters with the disorder obtain the treatment they need. Other experts say bipolar disorder is overdiagnosed. The term, the critics say, has become a catchall applied to almost any explosive, aggressive child. After children are classified, the experts add, they are treated with powerful psychiatric drugs that have few proven benefits in children and potentially serious side effects like rapid weight gain. In the study, researchers from New York, Maryland and Madrid analyzed a National Center for Health Statistics survey of office visits that focused on doctors in private or group practices. The researchers calculated the number of visits in which doctors recorded diagnoses of bipolar disorder and found that they increased, from 20,000 in 1994 to 800,000 in 2003, about 1 percent of the population under age 20. The spread of the diagnosis is a boon to drug makers, some psychiatrists point out, because treatments typically include medications that can be three to five times more expensive than those for other disorders like depression or anxiety. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04psych.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1189091544-5kkio6rnJPQKM8/FNcqnHg&pagewanted=print http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/health/04psych.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1189091544-5kkio6rnJPQKM8/FNcqnHg http://www.truthout.org/issues_06/090507HA.shtml

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