... disorder. These can be differentiated by the severity of the illness. In recent years, more focus has been turned towards the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents. Bipolar disorder has been showing up in children and adolescents at an increasing rate and taken many mental health professionals by surprise. Approximately one million American children and adolescents suffer from this dreadful illness, (Kluger et al., 2002). However, while adults suffer across the bipolar continuum the literature suggest that children and adolescents display symptomatology of the most severe form of the illness. The clinical presentation of bipolar disorder in children (manic) usually manifests itself as ". . . worsening of disruptive behavior, moodiness, difficulty sleeping at night, impulsivity, hyperactivity, . . . an inability to concentrate. . . . Episodic short attention span, low frustration tolerance, and explosive anger followed by guilt, sulkiness, depression, and poor school performance. . ."(Weller ...

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