Forget the chicken pox-as-epidemic. Doctors say they’re diagnosing record numbers of children as having bipolar disorder, which is typically treated with highly potent psychotropic drugs.
According to a recent study, mental-health professionals are labeling one of every 100 children they see as having the disorder. In contrast, only 25 of 100,000 children were diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1994-1995.
Experts say that the increase can partly be attributed to the fact that bipolarity was under-diagnosed in years past. Many of these experts add, however, that the disorder is being over-diagnosed now.
“The way the label is being used is probably a little exuberant–not fitting with the strict definition of the illness,” said Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. (Los Angeles Times)
