Study: Researchers Shoot Down Pre-Adolescent Mania
A study out in this month’s British Journal of Psychiatry examined the course of bipolar disorder for as long as 15 years in the offspring of bipolar parents and found no evidence of pre-adolescent mania:
“We studied the course of major mood disorders in the offspring of parents with well-characterised bipolar disorder prospectively for up to 15 years. All consenting offspring were assessed annually or anytime symptomatic. The participants began to develop major mood episodes in adolescence and not before. The index major mood episode was almost always depressive, as were the first few recurrences. Onsets and recurrences continued throughout the observation period into adulthood. We did not find evidence of pre-pubertal mania. In summary, adolescence marks the beginning of the high-risk period for major mood episodes related to bipolar disorder.”
Someone alert Joe “Agitation is Mania!” Biederman and CABF! Seriously, that’s a pretty stunning finding and certainly confirms what other researchers elsewhere in the world have written. Of course, this study was done by Canadians, not proper psych researchers at Harvard.
But the rest of the world simply hasn’t glommed onto the bipolar child paradigm. As I told Psychology Today earlier this year:
“As for bipolar disorder in kids (meaning pre-teens and younger), it’s simply not an issue in the rest of the world. The bipolar child is a purely American phenomenon, as big a metaphor of our times as credit swaps, subprime loans, and government bailouts.”
I appreciate peer-reviewed research that backs up what I’ve been writing.
Related posts:
Posted in Furious Seasons