I must warn the reader that in spite of my efforts to deliver a book in Shakespearian English, it won't happen. There will be some mistakes in my text, like there are some in my life. And I will not hire a corrector. I am who I am; it is what it is! Maybe you should buckle your seat belts... and have a good read!

Pediatric Bipolar Disorder is a neurobiological disorder that requires medical treatment. Even with successful medical treatment, however, both children and adults with bipolar disorder usually need coping skillls to manage and live with this challenging illness. The purpose of this book is to help the child with bipolar disorder better understand his or her feelings, and feel less alone in this world. This book is written for elementary school age children, but may be of use for those younger or older. Children with bipolar disorder usually have strong emotional responses to their world. The first step to treating this illness is proper medical attention. Once these children receive treatment, it is important to help them identify, understand, cope with and manage these feelings. In order to give children a sense of control over these strong feelings, a caring adult can first learn how to label their feelings. Next, guide the child to strategize appropriate responses and practice or role play the strategies. Our hope is that this book facilitates discussions with your child to help in that process. In using this book, help the child understand that feelings are an emotional response to stimulus, and it's very hard, if not impossible, to change those initial feelings. What a healthy and stable child can learn to do, however, is manage the resulting behavior and choose how much control feelings have over their lives. In other words, while it is acceptable to be angry, it is not acceptable to act destructively because of that anger. That doesn't mean, however, that an unstable child should be expected to control their illness through sheer willpower.

Clinical Manual for Management of Bipolar Disorder in Children and Adolescents was written in response to the growing body of knowledge surrounding pediatric bipolar illness and the underlying biological, environmental, and psychosocial influences that exacerbate symptoms and behavior. Written to provide clinically useful information about diagnosis and management, this manual is a comprehensive collection of empirical evidence, case studies, and the growing number of evidence-based reports on pediatric bipolar disorder over the past five years. This manual also contains several chapters provided by Dr. Mary Fristad and her team at The Ohio State University -- experts in family and psychosocial aspects of pediatric bipolar disorder. Her contributions, along with vast clinical evidence and the expertise provided by Drs. Kowatch, Findling, and Post, help paint an accurate picture of everything from age onset to the effectiveness of various therapies. In this manual, clinicians can refer to the following tools: A clinical description of childhood and adolescent bipolar disorder Management strategies for the patient including daily mood charting Current medication strategies and tactics Ways to help patients through the educational system Resources for clinicians, parents and patients A review of the future directions for childhood and adolescent bipolar disorder The many new developments in the field of pediatric bipolar disorder are affirming what this manual emphasizes -- that a combination of family and cognitive-behavior therapy can work in tandem with medical treatments to help young bipolar disorder patients achieve a more balanced life and a greater chance of controlling this illness later in life. The manual demonstrates how the medical community has shifted from asking, "Does bipolar disorder really exist in children and adolescents" to "How can we best predict, diagnose and treat this serious medical disorder" through a review of 25 years of study and insight.

An eminent child psychiatrist provides an insider's, whistle-blowing perspective on the promotion of a diagnostic entity that does not exist. Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder: How Bad Science and Good Public Relations Created the Diagnosis examines this diagnostic fad through a variety of lenses. Author Stuart L. Kaplan, MD, draws heavily on his forty years of experience as a clinician, researcher, and professor of child psychiatry to make the argument that bipolar disorder in children and adolescents is incorrectly diagnosed and incorrectly treated. As Dr. Kaplan explains, the dramatic rise in this particular diagnosis is not based on scientific evidence, nor does it reflect any new discovery or insight about the etiology or treatment of the disorder. In fact, the opposite is the case: the scientific evidence against the existence of child bipolar disorder is so strong that it is difficult to imagine how it has gained the endorsement of anyone in the scientific community. Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder: How Bad Science and Good Public Relations Created the Diagnosis explains to parents and professionals the faulty reasoning and bad science behind the misdiagnosis of childhood bipolar disorder. Dr. Kaplan critiques the National Institute of Mental Health, academic child psychiatry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the media for their respective roles in advocating this diagnosis. He describes very clearly what the children and adolescents actually do have, explains how it should be treated, and provides real-life clinical scenarios and approaches to treatment that work.

A bipolar diagnosis can be overwhelming to sufferers and their family members. They need trustworthy information and support for finding the right treatment and coping with the illness's devastating ups and downs. Over 200,000 readers have already found exactly that in this indispensable guide from a leading expert. Explaining the disorder's causes, diagnosis, and best current treatments, David J. Miklowitz shows how to plan for and reduce recurrences of mood symptoms, make needed lifestyle changes to stay well, and strengthen relationships strained by the illness. Readers love the user-friendly tone, true-to-life stories, checklists, worksheets, and practical problem-solving advice. Updated throughout, the second edition has a new chapter, "For Women Only"; the latest facts on medications and therapy; and an expanded discussion of parenting issues for bipolar adults. This book will be invaluable to people with bipolar illness and their family members and significant others; mental health professionals and students.

Over the last decade, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder has increased up to fortyfold. This is a trend exclusive to the United States, and one that, alarmingly, leads to most of the diagnosed children—some still in their infancy—being prescribed antipsychotic drugs, often in combination with anticonvulsants. These classes of drugs have dangerous side effects, including a doubling of mortality rates, shortened life span, extreme weight gain, and Type II diabetes. In this book, psychologist Sharna Olfman leads a team of widely known experts who examine that astonishing rise in the diagnosis of pediatric bipolar disorder, particularly in the absence of any compelling evidence for either the validity of the criteria being used to diagnose it or the safety and effectiveness of the drugs being used to treat it. When a child is unnecessarily prescribed antipsychotic and anticonvulsant drugs, his or her mental and physical health may be irrecoverably compromised, says Olfman. With as many as two-and-a-half million children from across the socioeconomic spectrum now taking antipsychotics, we have set the stage for widescale child abuse. The contributors to this revealing and disturbing volume include psychiatrist David Healy, one of the world's leading authorities on psychotropic drugs; pediatrician Philip Landrigan, an internationally renowned health researcher; and Robert Whitaker, an award winning medical journalist. The contributors identify and explain complex and interrelated factors that have set the stage for the pediatric bipolar epidemic, and they recommend practice and policy changes to stem the tide of misdiagnosis and dangerous drug prescriptions.