title: Mood lability and bipolar disorder in children and adolescents.
abstract: Pediatric bipolar disorder, once considered rare, has reportedly increased in incidence over the past 10 years. There is significant debate about the phenomenology, diagnosis and treatment of this illness. The diagnostic assessment of children with severe mood and behavioural disturbance is of considerable public health importance as the ultimate diagnosis can have significant treatment implications and can impact the level of stigma experienced by children and their families. The purposes of this paper are to: 1) review current issues in the phenomenology and diagnostic assessment of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents; 2) review recent research suggesting that youths with a chronic course of illness should be considered a separate group from those with an episodic course; and 3) offer suggestions for future studies to address the various phenomenological controversies.
authors.affiliation: Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA. lmille84@jhmi.edu
authors.forename: Leslie
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Shannon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barnett
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000175:diagnosis; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002648:Child; D002908:Chronic Disease; D015897:Comorbidity; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010507:Periodicity