Pediatric bipolar disorder, also known as early-onset bipolar disorder, affects 7 percent of children seen in psychiatric facilities, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. A patient with bipolar disorder experiences mood swings between mania and depression, which are different from the normal highs and lows a child can go through, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. A child can be diagnosed with one of four types of bipolar disorder, which differ slightly in symptoms.
Bipolar Type 1
Bipolar disorder Type 1 is defined as episodes of mania with periods of depression. In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Health, the child must have an episode of mania, which is either an elevated mood and three other symptoms, or an irritable mood and four other symptoms. Other symptoms of mania include poor judgment, racing thoughts, distractibility, irritability and participating in risky behavior. The patient also has depression symptoms, like sadness, feeling hopeless and worthless, suicidal thoughts and sleeping problems, though they do not need to be present at the time of diagnosis to fulfill the criteria for bipolar disorder Type 1.
Bipolar Type 2
A patient with bipolar disorder Type 2 has depressive episodes with periods of normal mood or hypomania. Since a child with bipolar disorder Type 2 has mainly depression symptoms, her disorder might be mistaken for major depression. Hypomania is a less severe form of mania--the patient still has an elevated mood, increased physical activity and energy, but it does not interfere in the child's life as much as mania does. The Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF) notes that a child with bipolar disorder may never develop full mania.
Bipolar Disorder NOS
Bipolar disorder NOS, or not otherwise specified, involves significant mood dysregulation also, where the patient has both mania and depression symptoms. The symptoms of bipolar disorder NOS, however, do not fall under bipolar disorder Type 1 or Type 2 diagnosis criteria. According to CABF, a child with bipolar disorder NOS may be "experiencing the emergence of another neurodevelopmental illness and the symptoms of that disorder have not yet be fully expressed." As the child ages, symptoms and behavior may change, leading to another form of bipolar disorder or a different psychiatric disorder.
Cyclothymia
The fourth subtype of bipolar disorder, cyclothymia, has less severe mood swings than other forms of bipolar disorder. Cyclothymia still impairs the patient's life, but the changes in mood are not as drastic. The Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation states that cyclothymia may progress to full-blown bipolar disorder later in the child's life.
