Does the Child Really Have Bipolar Disorder?

Along the lines of what I had briefly described in Mother of Invention and “Disease Mongering”, the controversy of diagnosing children with bipolar disorder is only going to increase. This controversy will probably split mental health researchers into two main camps: those who believe in diagnosing children with bipolar disorder, and those who believe children have become overdiagnosed with a variety of mental illnesses when they aren’t sick.

In One Corner….
What Elizabeth Slowik wrote in “Bipolar disorder on rise among children” (April 4, 2006 – The Grand Rapids Press) may be typical of how a parent may realize something is wrong. She first noticed her baby’s uncontrollable crying and sensitivity to sensory stimulation, then sought help when her child was 2. Her child was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at age 4, and began treatment. Many parents felt some relief when learning their children may have a disorder, because it means there may a treatment for it.

… And In The Other Corner
Yet this is exactly what Cardiff University’s David Healy said is wrong with the picture. He is concerned that children are becoming too quickly diagnosed with bipolar disorder for all sorts of temperaments that parents may have trouble controlling. Healy was especially critical of professionals who are pushing the American Psychiatric Association’s allowing the bipolar disorder diagnosis for children whose moods fluctuate through the course of one day – not for weeks at a time as it currently stands.

There may be other factors that trigger erratic behaviors in children, but professionals may be too quick to diagnose and too quick to medicate.