What is classic bipolar like in children? Is there a consensus on what it is?
Unlike the well-studied bipolar illness in adults, there is strong academic debate about the key symptoms that indicate bipolar disorder in children. Part of what makes diagnosing bipolar difficult and even controversial is that it is not a single illness but a spectrum disorder with a constellation of symptoms which occur in varying combinations and to differing degrees of severity. For the purposes of diagnosis, clinicians often group patients into one of three sub-categories. Bipolar I Bipolar I, or classic bipolar, is the well-studied version of the illness that long has been recognized in adults and known for its mood swings between dramatic highs and lows. The highs, or manic episodes, are marked by one or more of a list of debilitating behaviors, namely euphoric or expansive mood, irritability, decreased need for sleep, increased goal-directed activity, pressured speech, rapid thoughts, distractibility, risky or hypersexual behavior, psychosis and suicidality. Bipolar I also inv
