Danielle Asks... My 4 year old son was diagnosed with bipolar disorder about six months ago…he is currently on Seroquel, and the doctor added lithium today. I am scared that my baby has to be on these medications at such a young age and I am wondering if there is anyone out there with children (or yourself) that started these meds so young.

I watched an episode of Intervention last night. The woman involved in the intervention, Marci, was heavy into alcohol and drugs, including smoking crystal meth. Prior to the intervention, she had lost her home, her marriage, and custody of her children. By the end of the show, she agreed to treatment, was diagnosed as having bipolar disorder, received effective treatment, and experienced a complete turnaround.

I was talking to my doctor the other day about the possibility of antidepressants being overprescribed. Her reply was that people often go to the doctor when they're feeling depressed, rarely report ever experiencing manic symptoms (probably because they were feeling pretty good at the time), and may even hide the truth about any mania they have experienced in the past because they are afraid of being labeled bipolar and having to be treated for it.

Ari Asks... I have a friend who has most symptoms of bipolar, but doesn’t seem to have any obvious sign of depression. He has most other signs of bipolar. He’s had about four episodes of manic behavior in the last five months which had lasted three to four days. Could he be bipolar in your opinion – like rapid-cycling bipolar disorder without the obvious sign or suffering of depression?

OuchOuch Asks... I did not experience hypomanic symptoms until I started taking anti-depressants. Anti-depressants didn’t work for me – they either didn’t work or they revved me up. Mood stabilizers helped my depression. I was therefore diagnosed as Bipolar II – is it really Bipolar II?

Mike Asks... I find myself in a medical dilemma and don’t know where to turn. My fiancée recently graduated from dental school and went to Africa to volunteer. A year prior, she had an anxiety episode, as she was unsure about finishing her medical degree or not (anxiety/depression). The doctor put her on cipralex and within a short time she was back to normal. Over time she reduced her intake to the lowest 10mg and she was able to successfully graduate as a dentist. She then went off cipralex cold turkey, 3 weeks prior to going to Africa to volunteer in a local hospital.

In Bipolar Disorder for Dummies, we discourage anyone from attempting to self-diagnose or diagnose others suspected of having bipolar disorder and encourage you to obtain a diagnosis from a qualified doctor – preferably a psychiatrist who has some experience in diagnosing bipolar disorder and ruling out other conditions that could have similar symptoms.

The bipolar diagnosis is on the rise. You can read it in the media and readily observe it by talking to people you know. More people than ever (and significantly more children than ever) carry the label. According to results of a study published in the Archives of General Psychiatry (September, 2007) entitled, “National Trends in the Outpatient Diagnosis and Treatment of Bipolar Disorder in Youth,” we’ve seen a 40-fold increase in the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents between 1994 and 2003. During this same period, the bipolar diagnosis in the adult population nearly doubled.

A study published in this month's General Archives of Psychiatry entitled "Advancing Paternal Age and Bipolar Disorder," reports that children of older fathers have a higher risk of developing bipolar disorder than children of younger fathers. This is a large study, and the data are quite strong. Fathers age 40 and older show some increased risk of having a child with bipolar disorder, but the risk really grows with fathers ages 55 and older.

Bipolar disorder can be and often is misdiagnosed as unipolar depression (see "52 Percent of Bipolar Patients Receiving Antidepressants as First-Line Treatment?"). This could be a very dangerous misdiagnosis, because many antidepressants used to treat depression can trigger (or "unmask") mania, especially in people who really have Bipolar I. In other words, you could go into your doctor's office feeling depressed and as a result of the anti-depressants experience a manic episode.