Debate: No bipolar disorder in prepubertal children at high familial risk

Abstract

The rise in pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) prevalence rates and the related treatment regimen has an impact on a whole generation of severely affected young children. In Europe, we also see these emotional dysregulated children with a broad range of explosive disruptive behavior. However, classification within the bipolar disorder spectrum is rare. Why are these prepubertal children diagnosed with mania and how does this fit with the findings from bipolar offspring studies? Impact of methods of assessment, recruitment, and parental diagnoses are discussed.