Bipolar not ADHD: Unrecognized epidemic of manic depressive illness in children - pocketboek

This book is about one of the most serious problems in the field of Child Psychiatry and Children¡¯s Mental Health today: the unrecognized epidemic of bipolar disorder, otherwise known as manic depressive illnes, in children and its misdiagnosis as ADHD and other disruptive behavioral disorders. The reasons for this serious and highly prevalent mental illness going undetected and misdiagnosed as ADHD are enumerated and clarified and the related socio-political issues and ramifications highlighted. The main goal is to make psychiatrists, mental health professionals, and others dealing with troubled children and adolescents become aware of this serious problem and help them become competent in identifying this illness in children and in providing them the best treatment and help available for it today. It is the author¡¯s hope that better awareness of the occurrence of this illness in epidemic proportions, unrecognized until now, will lead not only to better care for the children affected, but also, more intensive research to understand the biological causes of this illness and thus, the development of more effective, or even curative treatment in the future.