Bipolar in Children – Treatment Options

Manic depression or bipolar disorder usually in the past has only been diagnosed in adults. All the time children exhibiting the same symptoms have been incorrectly diagnosed with either ADD or ADHD. But recently, pediatricians and psychiatrists have discovered that bipolar disorder in children is a reality and can happen to young children and teenagers alike.

Bipolar Disorder in Children Treatment

Medication

Diagnosing bipolar in children enables treatment to be enacted early enough so that as adults they can lead normal lives. But the treatment for children with bipolar is very controversial. Many physicians prefer to use medication to begin with and then work therapy around the medications. But many doctors and parents do not agree with this approach.

The fact is that many parents notice that when their bipolar children are placed on medication,  the children's personality seems to be altered and lose some of the traits that are so familiar to the parents. Adults and children alike, who get unnecessarily medicated or over medicated lose themselves to a certain extent. Some of the medications can cause the children to be spaced out, very despondent, or out of it. This makes the doctors and parents very concerned, and makes them wonder if medication is the answer for children.

Bipolar in Children – Play Therapy

It has been proven that play therapy can be helpful with bipolar disorder in children. This also assists them to have a happier childhood. This type of therapy usually has the children placed in hypothetical scenarios that help them to learn how to figure out an emotionally healthy and logical solution. For some children this play therapy is quite successful, but for others it does not work. In particular cases of bipolar disorder in children, the symptoms and mood swings can be so severe as to make the child not capable of controlling their reactions emotionally or their actions to situations or other things that could stimulate them.

Bipolar in Children – Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

A pretty new kind of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy helps the patient learn what may trigger inappropriate behavior and mood swings, the alternative to this inappropriate type behavior, and also learning to recognize the symptoms to their disorder. With cognitive behavioral therapy, the patient is allowed to see if they can avoid having depressive or manic spells, and also how to control the spells better when they do have them. With adults, this option for treatment is very possible. It is successful in some cases without medication and does work well with medication.

This type of therapy though does call for critical thinking and problem solving skills at a level not usually present with children. So because of this, it is not normally used with children having bipolar disorder who are under a particular maturity or age level. Some do believe that if the cognitive behavioral therapy techniques were changed to accommodate children, they could be equally effective on the children. However, this would be a very difficult task to accomplish.

Involvement of Parents and Teachers of Bipolar Children

Treatment options should always be discussed with parents, medical professionals and teachers. Anyone who is involved with the children should be involved in the course of treatment for the maximum success. If the teacher or the parent has questions about the effects of the treatment for the bipolar disorder in children or students,  they should be asked in the beginning so that if the treatment needs to be altered it can be. Parents also should not be afraid of going to other doctors if they feel the treatment or medication is not working for their bipolar children.