Childhood Bipolar Symptoms

Bipolar disorder is an old friend of might, but I have a growing concern about one of my sons having bipolar disorder as well which has brought up a load of questions beginning with the question of the behavior I am seeing just him being himself or having bipolar disorder. There is a growing knowledge of bipolar disorder in childhood and not just limited to adults anymore.

Childhood Bipolar Disorder is a common fear for adult who have bipolar disorder and want to have or have children already because it has been proven bipolar disorder is a genetic disorder. Most people have relatives who also have bipolar disorder. Being able to point out the symptoms of bipolar disorder in children can be easy, especially when the child is extremely aggressive or has extreme temper tantrums. These two symptoms don’t point at bipolar disorder and not all children who have bipolar disorder have these specific symptoms either. So for the few of us who do have bipolar disorder, what should we look for in our children?

The very common symptoms of bipolar disorder include the temper tantrums and aggression I have already pointed out. Another very common symptoms is frequent mood swings. Other symptoms include distractibility, hyperactivity, impulsivity, restlessness, goofiness, and giddiness which is one reason why many children are diagnosed with ADHD. Just as some of the symptoms adults experience are racing thoughts, oversensitivity to emotional or environmental triggers, difficulty getting up in the morning, social and separation anxiety.

Common symptoms don’t show themselves as much as the very common symptoms contains symptoms such as bed wetting, especially in boys, pressured speech, obsessional or compulsive behavior, excessive daydreaming, and learning disabilities. Childhood bipolar symptoms can also include poor short term memory, manipulative behavior which can be linked to lying and bossiness are included in symptoms yet are part of growing up. The less common, but possible symptoms, are migraine headaches, self mutilating behavior, cruelty to animals, and bingeing.

Throughout the above list is several symptoms children go through just being children where other extremes are red flags there is a problem. Then there are those children who fall in the middle that might have bipolar disorder, but also might just be their personality. The best decision is to have your child evaluated even at a young age such as 5 or 6 years old if they are showing behaviors which cause you concern. Also remember if they determine your child is just being a child doesn’t mean bipolar disorder can’t come knocking at the door when they reach adolescences. By adolescences, many parents view their actions as typical adolescences behavior leaving many, such as myself, undiagnosed for many years. Looking at this list myself, I can point out symptoms in my own son, but it also gives me a point to work from and to look for.