The rate of bipolar disorder diagnoses for children and adolescents seen as outpatients by physicians shot up dramatically between 1994 and 2003, raising new concerns about possible overdiagnosis of this severe mood disorder among young people.
National medical surveys done during that time period show that the number of office visits that resulted in a bipolar diagnosis for kids and teens increased by a factor of 40, say psychiatrist Mark Olfson of Columbia University and his coworkers.
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.