Bipolar

There is a lot of controversy surrounding the diagnosis of this disorder. Some doctors believe that it is often misdiagnosised as ODD, CD or some other disorder; while others beleive it is over-diagnosised.

This is a complicated disorder that has many subsets. It includes both Mania and Depression. In children both mania and hypomania can present as irritability that has many "cycles" throughout the day. I have listed the exact offical criteria, as given by Dr. Chandler

Mania:

An elevated, expansive, or irritable mood, lasting at least 1 week. This mood is also accompanied by at least three (four if mood is only irritable) of the following:

Inflated self -esteem or grandiosity
Decreased need for sleep
Increased talkativeness or pressure to keep talking
Racing thoughts or flight of ideas
Distractibility
Increased activity or psychomotor agitation
Excessive involvement in pleasurable activities that have a high potential for painful consequences.

The disturbance should be so severe that hospitalization is required to avoid harming themselves or others. Hypomania is less severe lasting only about 4 days and usually doesn't require hospitalization.

Depression:

Depression in children can be complex but they must show 5 of these 9 symptoms for two weeks or more. These symptoms must significantly interfer with the child's normal activity.

Show a depressed or irritable mood for most of the day, nearly every day
Show a markedly diminished interest in all, or almost all activities for most of the day, nearly every day
Show dimished pleasure in activities that brought pleasure before.
Show a significant weight loss (when not dieting) or failure to make appropriate weight gains
Show sleeplessness, difficulty sleeping, or sleeping too much nearly every day
Show restlessness or is slowed down, which is obvious to others, nearly every day
Show fatigue or loss of energy nearly every day
Show/express feelings of worthlessness or excessive guilt nearly every day
Show a diminished ability to think, concentrate, or shows indecisiveness, nearly every day
Show/express recurrent thoughts of death, suicidal thoughts or suicide attempts

There are some physical symptoms that are common in depression. These include:

Headaches
Stomaches
Sore Throat
Muscle Aches

Make sure to have the child checked by a pediatric doctor because there are some physical illnesses that can mimick depression.

Types of Bipolar

Bipolar I Disorder -: Children with this disorder have episodes of mania and episodes of depression. Sometimes there are fairly longer periods of normality between the episodes. Usually people spend much more time depressed than Manic. However, some children will have Chronic Mania and rarely get depressed.
Bipolar II Disorder -: Here people mostly have depression and occasionally have an episode of Hypomania, but not mania. Most people with this have long episodes of depression and virtually no time of wellness.
Cyclothymia -: This variant is characterized by many episodes of Hypomania and occasional episodes of mild depression only. A child may have quite a few episodes of Hypomania over the span of a year.
Mixed states -: In these conditions, a child will show signs of depression and mania at the same time. Most often, the mood is depressed and there are thoughts of suicide and hopelessness. The rest of the picture is, however, mania.
Rapid cycling Bipolar illness -: This means there are many cycles of mania and depression each year.

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