NAMInet The NAMInet is a tremendous resource exclusively for our grassroots leadership. However, while these abnormally intense moods usually last for weeks or months in adults with the illness, children with bipolar disorder can experience such rapid mood swings that they commonly cycle many times within a day. But as clinical investigators have followed the course of the disorder in children, they have observed a significant rate of transition from depression into bipolar mood states. One of the most important factors in establishing the diagnosis is family history.
Many parents report that their children have seemed different since early infancy.
They describe difficulty settling their babies, and they note that their children are easily over-responsive to sensory stimulation. Sleep disturbances and night terrors are also commonly reported. Rarely does bipolar disorder in children occur by itself. Some clinicians suggest that the prescription of a stimulant for a child genetically predisposed to develop bipolar disorder may induce an earlier onset or negatively influence the cycling pattern of the illness. In fact, difficulties with attention are so common in children that ADHD is often diagnosed instead of bipolar disorder.