Understanding the bipolar child
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People may think small kids don’t generally get as sick as grown-ups. But new research shows that when bipolar disorder, or manic depression, is involved, the exact opposite is true.
The little children that we see have the most severe form of the illness,” says Dr. Barbara Geller, one of the pioneers in research on bipolar children.
“Hyperactivity, irritability, distractibility, aggression - those symptoms don’t tell you anything because they’re so common,” she says. Children who are hyperactive, autistic or manic, for instance, all could have these symptoms.
“But elation and grandiose behaviour occur only in the manic kids,” Geller says. “(They’re) the cardinal symptoms of mania. They’re unique to (bipolar disorder), and don’t occur in ADHD.”
“A normal child is told they’re going to Disneyland and goes absolutely bananas. And that’s completely appropriate,” Geller says.
But a bipolar child “will be just that happy and excited for no reason at all in the middle of the classroom every day,” she explains. That’s what she calls inappropriate elation.
As for the grandiose behavior, again imagine a child in school, but this time the child “tells the teacher how to teach, tells other students what to learn, generally takes over the classroom,” Geller says.
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Barbara Geller, MD, is Professor of Psychiatry at Washington University, St. Louis. She has been recognized internationally for her research into pediatric bipolar disorders and is principal investigator on multiple NIMH-funded grants. Among her awards are the Cummings Special Research Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and the Exemplary Psychiatrist Award from the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. Dr. Geller has served on numerous federal advisory committees and has published more than 125 articles on childhood manic-depressive disorders. She conducts a second-opinion teaching clinic for children with bipolar or other serious psychiatric disorders. She has been writing for Journal Watch Psychiatry since 1997, specializing in articles on genetics and child psychiatry.
This is used understanding little bit about the kids behavior.