Pediatric Mania: The Controversy between Euphoria and Irritability

Title:Pediatric Mania: The Controversy between Euphoria and Irritability

Volume: 15 Issue: 3

Author(s): Giulia Serra*, Mai Uchida, Claudia Battaglia, Maria Pia Casinia, Lavinia De Chiara, Joseph Biederman, Stefano Vicari and Janet Wozniak

Affiliation:

• Child Neuropsychiatry Unit, Dept. of Neuroscience, I.R.C.C.S. Children Hospital Bambino Gesù, Rome,Italy

Keywords: Adolescence, bipolar disorder, cardinal symptoms, childhood, irritability, mania.

Abstract: Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (BD) is a highly morbid pediatric psychiatric disease, consistently associated with family psychiatric history of mood disorders and associated with high levels of morbidity and disability and with a great risk of suicide. While there is a general consensus on the symptomatology of depression in childhood, the phenomenology of pediatric mania is still highly debated and the course and long-term outcome of pediatric BD still need to be clarified. We reviewed the available studies on the phenomenology of pediatric mania with the aim of summarizing the prevalence, demographics, clinical correlates and course of these two types of pediatric mania. Eighteen studies reported the number of subjects presenting with either irritable or elated mood during mania. Irritability has been reported to be the most frequent clinical feature of pediatric mania reaching a sensitivity of 95–100% in several samples. Only half the studies reviewed reported on number of episodes or cycling patterns and the described course was mostly chronic and ultra-rapid whereas the classical episodic presentation was less common.

Cite this article as:

Serra Giulia*, Uchida Mai, Battaglia Claudia, Casinia Pia Maria, Chiara De Lavinia, Biederman Joseph, Vicari Stefano and Wozniak Janet, Pediatric Mania: The Controversy between Euphoria and Irritability, Current Neuropharmacology 2017; 15 (3) . https://dx.doi.org/10.2174/1570159X14666160607100403