Results from National Institute of Mental Health’s Largest, Most Recent Pediatric Bipolar Study

Funded and conducted by the National Institute of Mental Health, the Course and Outcome of Bipolar Illness in Youth (COBY) is being called the largest pediatric bipolar population to date. It followed the treatments and outcomes of 263 children and adolescents, aged 7-17. Like other, smaller studies, this study found that:

• bipolar disorder appears to affect children and adolescents more severely than adults
• children with bipolar disorder exhibit longer symptomatic stages
• children shift from one mood to another (high and low) more frequently and drastically than adults.
• children and teens are more likely to progress from a mild bipolar disorder to a severe form more often than adults

These findings were published in the February 2006 issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.

If you’re having trouble convincing a friend, relative or even healthcare professional about the validity of pediatric bipolar disorder, you can generously offer to email them the NIMH’s findings. The link is ridiculously long, but maybe the title itself will convince the skeptical. 

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2006/largest-study-to-date-on-pedia...

To keep up to date on any other study or studies you may be interested in, you can go to http://crisp.cit.nih.gov/, the governments clearing house and searchable database of federally funded biomedical research projects conducted at universities, hospitals, and other research institutions. CRISP is the acronym for Computer Retrieval of Information on Scientific Projects. Once you hit the landing page, you’ll find on the left hand side a rectangle sporting a microscope. The text in the rectangle reads: “Go to CRISP query form.” That means SEARCH HERE. You can search by state, date, institution, as well as topic. Once again, your tax dollars at work! You may as well get your money’s worth.