Bipolar disorder in children by the roof

• Bipolar disorder in children has grown 20 times faster in the past 20 years than the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in adults
• Teenage suicides are occurring and teenage psychotic breakdowns are on the rise
• The medical community's response to these increases is to encourage the increasing use of mind altering drugs

Children diagnosed with bipolar disorder

According to a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder in the decade 1994-2003 increased – not 25%, not 50%, not 100%, not 500%, not even 1000% . but – an incredible 4,000%. That's 20 times faster than the growth in diagnoses of bipolar disorder in adults over the same decade. And that trend has continued over the years since then.

We're not talking about small numbers like an increase from 10 to 400 children. No! We're talking about an increase from 20,000 children treated for bipolar disorder in 1994 to 800,000 treated in 2003.

Why the numbers are increasing

Study researcher Mark Olfson, MD, MPH, professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, explains, “The study does not tell us why so many children are diagnosed and treated for bipolar disorder. But it gives us clues. "

What hints? Among other:

• Greater bipolar disorder in children should mean a corresponding increase in adults with bipolar disorder. That does not happen. This means that we either discover a previously undetected bipolar disorder in children or we misdiagnose children.
• Teens diagnosed with bipolar disorder are more likely than adults to be diagnosed with ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) as well.
• Most adults diagnosed with bipolar disorder are female. Most children and adolescents diagnosed with bipolar disorder are male. Most of these people are boys around the age of 12 and many have ADHD or are at least being treated with stimulants for it.
• During the 10 years covered by the study, the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder have expanded. Many adults and adolescents who would not have been assumed to have bipolar disorder now are.

Dr. Thomas R. Insel, director of the National Mental Health Institute who funded the study, described the increase in bipolar diagnoses in a massive understatement unsettling. "The way the label is used is likely a little exuberant," Insel said.

"A little exuberant." Jack the Ripper was "a little exuberant". Exposing an entire generation of children to prescription psychotropic drugs is an abomination. That's true. Most of these children diagnosed with bipolar disorder were treated with strong psychotropic drugs. We're talking about antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, antidepressants, and stimulants.

The influence of children on psychiatric drugs

And for what purpose? Under the watchful eye of the medical community (and modern psychiatry in particular), teenage suicides are on the rise again, and teenage psychotic breakdowns are on the rise too. Remember that 20 years ago guns were available, yet how many times have you heard of students going to school and massacring their classmates? Make no mistake – these dramatic increases came at exactly the same time as more and more psychotropic drugs were prescribed to young people. The medical community's response to these increases is to encourage even greater use of mind-altering drugs.

As Ben Franklin said, "Madness does the same thing over and over and expects different results." Based on this definition, the modern psychiatric community may be considered insane. Maybe as crazy people they should follow their own recipe. Why not everyone in the psychiatric community relying on psychotropic drugs to deal with their mass madness? Or maybe they are already!