"Learning that one's child has bipolar disorder can be traumatic. Diagnosis usually follows months or years of the child's mood instability, school difficulties, and damaged relationships with family and friends. However, diagnosis can and should be a turning point for everyone concerned. Once ..."Learning that one's child has bipolar disorder can be traumatic. Diagnosis usually follows months or years of the child's mood instability, school difficulties, and damaged relationships with family and friends. However, diagnosis can and should be a turning point for everyone concerned. Once the illness is identified, energies can be directed towards treatment, education, and developing coping strategies."
......From the website of Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation
..........................................http://www.bpkids.org

The most frequent age at onset of bipolar disorder is during adolescence. However, in adolescence and in children, it is commonly mis-diagnosed as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or other mood disorders. As a result, children and adolescents with bipolar disorder are often initially treated with medication that may exacerbate the illness, such as antidepressants and stimulants. The differential diagnosis of bipolar disorder in older adolescents and adults sometimes includes schizophrenia and substance use disorders. The main differential diagnosis of prepubertal and early adolescent bipolar disorder is ADHD.
Grandiosity is not characteristically present in childhood mania. Being hyperenergetic and distractible could occur in either bipolar disorder or ADHD. In bipolar disorder, severe irritability is the predominant abnormal mood rather than euphoria.

For information on bipolar disorder in children and adolescents, click http://www.bpkids.org.

Author's Bio: 

Dr. Linet received his medical degree from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He is board certified in both adult and child psychiatry and has practiced for over 30 years. In the past, he held faculty positions as Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell Medical College and also at the State University of New York, Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn. Dr. Linet completed his residency in psychiatry at the State University of New York, Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, where he later also completed a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry. Subsequently, Dr. Linet was in charge of medical student education in child psychiatry at the State University medical school and later worked as Medical and Psychiatric Director of a residential treatment center for severely disturbed children and adolescents. Dr. Linet is comfortable using psychotherapy and psychopharmacology. He has expertise treating anxiety, depression and disruptive/acting out behavior - whether caused by psychological problems, ADHD, bipolar or other mood disorders. He wrote "Bipolar Disorder without Mania" and "The Search for Stimulation: Understanding ADHD," links to which can be found at www.LesLinetMD.com. Dr. Linet appeared on television programs featuring OCD and Tourette Syndrome. Internet links to various of his webcasts can be found on www.LesLinetMD.com. He is one of approximately 2000 physicians with a federal waiver to prescribe buprenorphine for narcotic addiction. He also counsels families and patients in handling substance abuse.