[beautifuldisaster78]

so i just watched this PBS special called "The Medicated Child" and it talked of bipolar kids as young as age 4 on tons and tons of different medications. they made it seem like it was being over-diagnosed (which is probably true) and how it was being overmedicated. The problem I had with the episode, was that yes... i'm sure it's overdiagnosed and a lot of these kids have behavioral issues or things that can be taken care of in therapy, but what about the ones where it's really a problem? they made it sound like bipolar can't even be truly diagnosed in kids or teenagers because there is no study on it.

Has anyone seen this special? What did you think of it? If you haven't, what do you think of diagnosing and medicating children and teens for bipolar?

[Anneinside]

I didn't see the special but I do have an opinion. I had an episode of depression when I was in the 2nd grade and back then (long time ago) they never considered that children were depressed or medication for them. I did have counseling which was helpful.

I think we need to be more careful in medicating children. I do think that kids can have bipolar and it looks different from when adults have it. It can often be confused with ADHD and behavioral problems. I think with kids that they should always start with counseling before considering medication. But, some kids will definitely need medications and everything we have is pretty heavy duty in terms of potential side effects for long-term use.