For adults, diagnosing and treating bipolar disorder can be easy. They can go see a psychologist for diagnosis or buy Prozac or whatever medicine has been prescribed to them for management. However, children diagnosed with the psychological disorder require more caution when it comes to choosing medication to prescribe. This makes treating pediatric bipolar disorder much more difficult as opposed to cases in adults.

But now, a recent study done by researchers from Washington University in St. Louis shows that children who suffer from bipolar disorder may grow up to suffer the symptoms of the psychological condition as adults.

The study was done even though shadows of doubt are cast regarding the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in kids. A lot of the counter-arguments originate from significant increase in children being diagnosed with the mood disorder. Some doctors believe that the condition is rather uncommon and is being overly diagnosed, while some believe the opposite to be quite true.

The study involved 115 children, with an average age of 11, all diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Interviews were done with the kids and their parents at the beginning of the test and during the nine follow-up checkups done over the succeeding 8 years. The interviews covered the children's symptoms, diagnoses, daily mood cycles, and how they interact with other people.

A big chunk of the participants were able to finish the study, and roughly half of the children turned 18 by the end of the observation period. In the 8-year follow-up period, the researchers were able to find out that the children's first 3 manic episodes included psychosis and a daily shift between mania and depression. Roughly 73% of the participants relapsed, while the others were able to recover from it.

After the follow-up sessions, the group found that 44% of the children who turned 18 at the end of the study continued having manic episodes as young adults.

It still isn't clear to researchers why some of the children no longer experienced mania once they matured, but the tests were able to provide validation that bipolar disorder may continue into adulthood in a huge population of children with the disease. The unfortunate thing about this is, compared to adults who are given medicine for the disease, children have a higher rate of dependency formation.

The research group from Washington University suggests that clinicians start informing parents of what may or may not happen. The first concerns that are always aired by parents after having their children diagnosed with manic depression is whether or not the kid would take the disease with him as he grows older. Based on the results of this recent test, doctors need to advise parents to be rather vigilant in watching their children, to avoid dragging the condition along until adulthood.