The best of news and research articles from publications nationwide, as selected by the Child & Adolescent Bipolar Foundation, updated weekly.

Wilens T., Biederman J., et al. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry (1999) (full text).

Bipolar disorder is associated with high risk of developing substance abuse, with substantially higher risk in the children whose illness began in adolescence as compared to those with prepubertal onset.

A family-based prevention program designed to help adolescents avoid substance use and other risky behavior proved especially effective for a group of young teens with a genetic risk factor contributing toward such behavior, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Georgia. The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), components of the National Institutes of Health, supported the study, which appears in the May/June issue of Child Development.

by Joseph Biederman, Eric Mick, Stephen V. Faraone, Thomas Spencer, Timothy E. Wilens, and Janet Wozniak

Reproduced by permission of Elsevier Science from Biological Psychiatry, Vol. No. 48, pages 458-466, Copyright 2000 by the Society of Biological Psychiatry.

Despite ongoing controversy, the view that pediatric mania is rare or nonexistent has been increasingly challenged not only by case reports, but also by systematic research. This research strongly suggests that pediatric mania may not be rare but that it may be difficult to diagnose. Since children with mania are likely to become adults with bipolar disorder, the recognition and characterization of childhood-onset mania may help identify a meaningful developmental subtype of bipolar disorder worthy of further investigation.

This study took place over a six week period with adolescent subjects diagnosed with bipolar disorder and substance dependence.  Average age of bipolar disorder onset was 9.6 years; average age of substance dependence was 15.3 years.  For the purposes of this short-term study, lithium was shown to be a useful treatment for adolescents suffering from both disorders. (August 1997)