Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder: How Bad Science and Good Public Relations Created the Diagnosis

From roughly 1994 to 2003, the diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents underwent a dramatic, unwarranted increase. In 1995 there were 20,000 outpatient visits for this diagnosis in childhood; by 2003 the number was 800,000. Now, nearly one third of all children and adolescents discharged from psychiatric hospitals have been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder: How Bad Science and Good Public Relations Created the Diagnosis examines this diagnostic fad through a variety of lenses. Author Stuart L Kaplan, MD, draws heavily on his 40 years of experience as a clinician, researcher, and professor of child psychiatry to make the argument that bipolar disorder in children and adolescents is incorrectly diagnosed and incorrectly treated.

As Dr. Kaplan explains, the dramatic rise in this particular diagnosis is not based on scientific evidence, and it does not reflect any new discovery or insight about the etiology or treatment of the disorder. In fact, the opposite is the case: the scientific evidence against the existence of childhood bipolar disorder is so strong that it is difficult to imagine how it has gained the endorsement of anyone in the scientific community.

Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder: How Bad Science and Good Public Relations Created the Diagnosis explains to parents and professionals the faulty reasoning and bad science behind the misdiagnosis of childhood bipolar disorder. Dr. Kaplan critiques the National Institute of Mental Health, academic child psychiatry, the pharmaceutical industry, and the media for their respective roles in advocating this diagnosis. He describes very clearly what the children and adolescents actually do have, explains how it should be treated, and provides real-life clinical scenarios and approaches to treatments that work.

Stuart L. Kaplan, MD, clinical professor of psychiatry at Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, has authored over 100 scientific journal articles, presentations, and book chapters in child and adolescent psychiatry. He has served as the director of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at university medical schools, as the director of Child Psychiatry physician training programs, and on the editorial boards of prestigious scientific child psychiatric journals. He is board certified in adult psychiatry and in child and adolescent psychiatry. Dr. Kaplan is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. He maintains an active clinical practice with children and their families.