The natural course of bipolar disorder in pediatric cases tends to be . . .

The natural course of bipolar disorder in pediatric cases tends to be chronic, complex/rapid cycling, and continuous (and mixed with depression) rather than episodic and acute. This is due in part to the complex and continous cycling of mania and depression (with switches in polarity and the melancholy and lower level irritability of depression and the euphoria and extreme irritability of mania) as well as the interplay of bipolar disorder with its comorbid conditions, notably ADHD. Thus, children with comorbid bipolar disorder and ADHD are rarely “well.”

Bipolar Disorder

Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

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