title: Clinical Guidelines on Long-Term Pharmacotherapy for Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents.
abstract: Bipolar disorder is a severe affective disorder which can present in adolescence, or sometimes earlier, and often requires a pharmacotherapeutic approach. The phenomenology of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents appears to differ from that of adult patients, prompting the need for specific pharmacotherapy guidelines for long-term management in this patient population. Current treatment guidelines were mainly developed based on evidence from studies in adult patients, highlighting the requirement for further research into the pharmacotherapy of children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. This review compares and critically analyzes the available guidelines, discussing the recommended medication classes, their mechanisms of action, side effect profiles and evidence base.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Birmingham and BSMHFT, Birmingham B152FG, UK. jhc948@bham.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Joanna H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Cox
authors.affiliation: School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B47ET, UK. s.seri@aston.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Stefano
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seri
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuropsychiatry, University of Birmingham and BSMHFT, Birmingham B152FG, UK. a.cavanna@ion.ucl.ac.uk.|School of Life and Health Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B47ET, UK. a.cavanna@ion.ucl.ac.uk.|Sobell Department of Motor Neuroscience and Movement Disorders, Institute of Neurology and UCL, London WC1N3BG, UK. a.cavanna@ion.ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Andrea E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Cavanna
keywords: adolescents; bipolar disorder; children; guidelines; pharmacotherapy