Treatment Guidelines for Two Hypothetical Cases in Children
There are no FDA-approved treatments for children under age 10 with bipolar disorder. For an article in Psychiatric Annals, this editor and Janet Wozniak asked experts how they would sequence treatment of a hypothetical case of a 6-year-old with extreme mood instability consistent with a diagnosis of BP -NOS (see Table I). We also asked how the experts would treat a different case of a 9-year-old with a full-blown psychotic BP-I mania (see Table II).
(click to see full-size image)
(click to see full-size image)
The results are presented and discussed in detail in the article, and are presented here to reinforce several points. The recommendations for children under 10 and for BP NOS are highly similar to consensus guidelines for older BP I children compiled by Kowatch et al.
Treatments in the face of non-response to option A or others are sequenced differently by different experts, but almost always involve an atypical antipsychotic (AA) or a mood stabilizer (MS) such as lithium, valproate, carbamazepine/oxcarbazepine, or rarely, lamotrigine. Revisions of atypical antipsychotics and mood stabilizers and use of combinations are the common next strategies.
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