Pediatric Bipolar Disorder

Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD) is one of the most common serious disorders among child psychiatry referrals (Geller and Luby, 1997; Wozniak et al., 1995). It is associated with high rates of suicide, school failure, and aggression, as well as high-risk behaviors such as sexual promiscuity and substance abuse (Wilens et al., 1999). High incidence of relapse and low recovery rates are common to the disorder (Geller et al., 2001; Craney and Geller, 2003). PBD is frequently misdiagnosed as attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and/or anxiety or depression, which often results in inappropriate treatment and worsening of symptoms (Biederman et al., 1999, 2000; DelBello et al., 2001a; Mota—Castillo et al., 2001; Soutullo et al., 2002). While the prevalence of bipolar disorder is estimated to be 1% in the adolescent population (Lewinsohn et al., 1995), there is a lack of solid epidemiological data on the prevalence of bipolar disorder in younger age groups.