University Times

Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (WPIC) has opened the nation’s only inpatient unit dedicated to serving children with bipolar disorder, the Inpatient Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services (in-CABS).

Up to 15 percent of school-aged children seen at psychiatric facilities and approximately one-third of children discharged from psychiatric hospitals fit the diagnostic criteria for bipolar disorder. Symptoms include mood swings that may include recurrent cycles of depression and mania, changes in levels of activity and functioning, inappropriate social behavior, hyper-sexuality, sleep and appetite changes, difficulty with concentration and racing thoughts.

All children under the age of 18 who are admitted to the WPIC emergency department for a bipolar diagnosis are screened at in-CABS. Parents or caregivers of children who arrive at the emergency department complete a Child Mania Rating Scale, which is a tool that reviews both past and current manic symptoms when assessing for bipolar disorder. The scale also includes questions about family psychiatric history, the strongest predictor of bipolar disorder in children. The in-CABS team then does its own assessment to confirm the diagnosis.

The Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services, an outpatient clinic at WPIC directed by Boris Birmaher and David Axelson, has served children with bipolar disorders regionally and nationally for more than a decade and now is coordinating efforts with the in-CABS program to connect bipolar youth with ongoing bipolar disorder research studies.