Bipolar Disorder Daily News Blog

Children Overdiagnosed with BP

The Washington Post interviewed a dozen psychiatrists and child psychologists for a February 15 story on child diagnosis of bipolar disorder.

The story suggest that there have been sharp increases in child diagnosis of bipolar disorder during the past decade. As a result, some preschoolers barely out of diapers are being treated for bipolar disorder with powerful drugs, few of which have been tested in children.

An associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Washington, Jon McClellan, thinks there may be a rush to diagnose kids as a result of bipolar disorder's status as a cultural phenomenon.

In follow-on letters to the editor, a number of people have written in to agree and disagree.

Source: Washington Post "Going to Extremes" (Free Registration Required).