The number of teenagers who have experienced mania, a hallmark of bipolar disorder, is close to the number of adults estimated to have the mood disorder, suggesting that for many the condition begins during adolescence, according to a US study.
"The traditional wisdom has been that mania begins in your 20s and 30s," said Kathleen Ries Merikangas, the study's lead author and chief of the genetic epidemiology branch at the National Institute of Mental Health. "I think the important thing is for people to recognize that mania does occur in adolescents."
The most common definition of bipolar disorder includes alternate cycles of mania and depression, though one type of bipolar diagnosis involves mania alone.
The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry, included more than 10,000 teenagers who went through extensive interviews about their moods and behaviour.
The researchers found that 2.5 percent met the criteria for having had mania and depression, and 2.2 percent of teens had experienced it within the last 12 months.
Also, within the year preceding the survey, 1.3 percent of the teens had mania alone and 5.7 percent had depression.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health, 2.6 percent of adults have had bipolar disorder in the last 12 months.
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