Posted on 01/15/2010 7:30:21 AM PST by decimon
BOSTON (Reuters) – The number of children aged 2 to 5 who have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and prescribed powerful antipsychotic drugs has doubled over the past decade, according to research released on Friday.
The research suggests that while it is still rare to prescribe powerful psychiatric drugs to 2-year-olds, the practice is becoming more frequent.
The data, compiled from 2000 to 2007, and published in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, could inform testimony at the upcoming Boston-area murder trials of the parents of 4-year-old Rebecca Riley. The girl died of an overdose of mood-stabilizing medication in 2006.
A Boston child psychiatrist, Kayoko Kifuji, diagnosed Riley with bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder when she was 30 months old, and placed her on several powerful drugs: Depakote, an antiseizure medication also used for bipolar disorder, and clonidine, a blood pressure medication.
Kifuji's testimony may be crucial to the fate of Michael and Carolyn Riley, who face first-degree murder charges. A grand jury and a review by the state's medical licensing board cleared the doctor of wrongdoing.
Prosecutors claim the Rileys deliberately overmedicated their daughter to subdue her. The couple say they were following Kifuji's instructions and their daughter died of pneumonia.
The case has shone the spotlight again on a debate within the psychiatric profession about whether bipolar disorder can be diagnosed in very young children and whether it is wise to prescribe powerful medications.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Bipolar buttheads ping.
I am not sure to be happy or sad about this.
How convenient. Now they can medicate the bad behavior and the kid has an excuse to be a brat. Being diagnosed bi-polar must mean more excuses and exemptions than being tagged with ADDHD.
The number of vaccinations jumps also.
The more drugs we get people to take, the better!
I guess I’m of two minds regarding this report.
Well, you can alternate.
I know, it is laughable and extremely sad at the same time.
Having raised our 5 kids through the two year old stage, I think it would be pretty hard to sort out.
'Rational' just doesn't apply at that age.
I am bipolar, a large galoot, and I need nothing stronger than simple Lithium Carbonate to adequately manage my condition: it is the oldest, simplest, and probably the most effective treatment for bipolar disorder known to Mankind.
I am stunned they would even be trying to diagnose wee kids with bipolar disorder. I do not know how they would even begin to do so. And I am at a loss to understand why they would need strong pharmaceuticals. Of course, I’m not a doctor, I’m just a patient.
I wonder how much prompting is coming from the parents, who may be wanting to medicate a naughty-but-otherwise-healthy child into behaving itself? I dunno, but I gotta wonder.
my mom is bipolar, a teeny drink of water and she needs more than what you need. it’s not, apparently the size of your galoot that matters, rather the individual brain chemistry of the patient.
But I’m with you on the diagnosing of 2 year olds as bipolar.
What a bunch of quacks. All kids have wild mood swings, it is part of being a kid. We are going to be a society of zombies. It should be criminal to force mind altering drugs on our kids.
Thanks for the insight.
I also don’t know how a toddler can be so diagnosed. Unless there is some definite state of brain chemistry or structure to dictate such a diagnosis. I doubt there is anything but behavioral diagnosis and kiddie-poos are all nuts.
Bipolar is a serious not laughable disease. My brother in laws grandmother was bipolar and killed herself. My BIL’s mother has just the past couple months attempted suicide twice making her total attempts about 7 or so. It is so hard for my sister and her family.
On that note children being bipolar is possible and does happen, but I do believe the parents of these children are responsible in allowing bad behavior. They do not discipline them and encourage bad bevior by catering to the child.
Dear friends of mine have a daughter who is 30. She is bipolar and another mental illness. They have bought this daughter everything she wanted. They are wealthy and adopted her. Her biological mother was a nut. No doubt her illness is real. It is just made worse by instead if teaching their daughter to clean up her emotinal messes, they’d take her to buy her Prada, Jimmy Choo’s, car, and constant flow of money. They were so afraid of what their daughter would do if they stood up to her they did opposite of what she needed. She’s now been in and out of mental hospitals, had a baby that is now been adopted out to a loving family. Sad.
to a hammer everything looks like a nail.
I wouldn’t say that being bipolar isn’t real or isn’t serious. I would say that spurious diagnosis and medication of infants is wrong.
I think if a child is suicidal then you have no choice but to do whatever to help, but if it’s just up and down moods there should be other options then medicine as well. Depression is one thing easily treated without medicine, bipolar is another. Each situation the doctor needs to use medicine as a last resort on children.
I was wondering that too. I’ve been around enough young children to think that most at age two at times could be described that way. Geez, they can rapid cycle through crying laughing and crying in the course of 10 minutes so yep bi polar (NOT),or maybe just a normal 2 yo?
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