- The Columbia TeenScreen™ Program
Background: Why is Mental Health a concern for youth?
Until the 1980s, doctors and others rarely considered depression a childhood disorder. The mental
health needs of children and adolescents have only recently begun to receive deserved attention.
Symptoms of psychiatric disorders appear in adolescence, and research has proven that early
identification is the key to successful treatment. Both depression and Bipolar Disorder can develop in
the early teens, as can eating disorders, substance abuse and anxiety. Suicide and attempted suicide,
usually the desperate act of someone with a mental illness, are more common in ninth and tenth graders
now than in the last thirty years. Fortunately, our society has begun to recognize the terrible cost of not
identifying and treating teens with mental illness, but there is still a great amount of work to be done in
this area.
(Added: Sun Aug 26 2001)
- Treating Adolescent Mania and Bipolar Disorder
By Scott A. West, MD, Psychiatric Institute of Florida
Dr. West is Director, Psychopharmacology Research Program at the Psychiatric Institute of Florida,
Orlando, FL.
Traditionally, bipolar disorder has been thought of as an illness that begins in late adolescence and
early adulthood and is defined by distinct periods of depression and mania. Recent research has
suggested that while this may be the case in many patients, the bipolar spectrum includes a substantial
percentage of patients with childhood- and adolescent-onset bipolar disorder who may present with a
range of clinical presentations. In a survey of 500 bipolar patients, Lish and colleagues found that the
majority of patients had clearly developed significant symptomatology by 18-years of age and that
many of these patients had not been properly diagnosed or treated for years, which resulted in
devastating outcomes.
(Added: Sun Aug 26 2001)
|
