| At one time, it was believed that only adults suffered | | | | kids -- children -- with bipolar disorder! Taking statistics |
| from bipolar disorder. The general consensus at the | | | | from the Archives of General Psychiatry to study |
| time was that the condition was set off sometime in | | | | mental illness, only 3 percent of children in the United |
| the teenage and adolescent years and gradually | | | | Stated were projected to suffer from this disorder. As |
| worsened if left untreated as the kid grew into an | | | | at the year 2000, this uncomfortable figure had risen to |
| adult. | | | | a more alarming 15 percent! And lest I forget to |
| Interestingly, to counter this view, recent years have | | | | mention it, this figure continues to climb with each year |
| seen more and more children diagnosed with the | | | | that passes. |
| condition. Some scientists, researchers, and | | | | Okay, there is the genetic link that has been proven to |
| psychiatrists believe that this is due, in some ways, to | | | | be a factor in the cause of this disorder in children. |
| improved diagnostic methods, processes and means, | | | | Parents who have suffered from some kind of |
| while others think it is a stark reality of how many | | | | depression or psychosis are more than likely - about |
| more people really are suffering from the disorder, | | | | 60 to 70 percent of the time - to birth children with |
| suggesting some unseen environmental trigger that has | | | | various forms of depressive disorders as well. A good |
| spiked the rise. | | | | portion of these kids, as you might have surmised at |
| Whichever of these two schools of thought may be | | | | this time, end up with the disorder. |
| true, there is a reality that neither can deny: there are | | | | |