Objective: The literature on bipolar in children and adolescents was reviewed to provide an update for clinicians.
Review process: Literature of particular relevance to evidence-based practice was selected for critical review.
Outcomes: An up-to-date overview of clinical features, epidemiology, prognosis, aetiology, assessment and intervention was provided.
Conclusions: Bipolar disorder in children and adolescence is a relatively common, multifactorially determined and recurring roblem which persists into adulthood. Psychometrically robust screening questionnaires and structured interviews facilitate reliable assessment. Multimodal chronic care programmes involving medication (notably lithium) and familyoriented psychotherapy are currently the treatment of choice.
