The regimens were similar to those of a group of adults with bipolar diagnoses, the study found.

Because a bipolar diagnosis requires a manic or hypomanic episode, many patients are initially diagnosed and treated as having major depression.

A 2007 study in the Archives of General Psychiatry reported that between 1994 and 2003 the rate of bipolar diagnosis in people age 18 and younger increased forty-fold.

"I used the bipolar diagnosis for school and getting services, but I don't think it covers his behaviors," she said.

In just the last decade, the rate of bipolar diagnosis in children under 13 has increased almost sevenfold, according to a study based on hospital discharge records.

There are many possible reasons for the sudden frenzy of pediatric bipolar diagnoses.

And my closest friends know about my bipolar diagnosis.

Specific criteria defined by the DSM-IV for a bipolar II diagnosis is as follows:

The sudden popularity of pediatric bipolar diagnosis has coincided with a shift from antidepressants like Prozac to far more expensive atypicals.

Critics of the more widespread use of a pediatric bipolar diagnosis say it does.