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Heredity -- what age do children exhibit symptoms?
Q: My daughter in-law has been diagnosed with Bipolar disorder since
childhood. She had her first baby, a girl, this year, and my daughter in law's
symptoms became worse while she was expecting. I want to know if this disorder
is hereditary, and at what age children begin to exhibit symptoms of this
disorder. Thank you. Anne
Dear Anne --
Hereditary: yes, strongly so compared to other mental health conditions (of
which many are also quite strongly genetic, but bipolar the most of all).
There's a lovely article about estimating the risk in a child based on the
family history in Journal of Clinical Psychiatry this year, but I'm having
trouble digging up the reference. When I find it I'll email it to you as
well as posting it on my website -- I should have done that when I saw it go
by! The bottom line of the article is that even though you'll often hear
"25%" as the risk of a child's having BP, if one parent has it; that
there are other factors to be taken into account that may dramatically affect
that rough estimate, increasing it, or often decreasing it. So wait until
I send you the article!
What age? It varies: pre-pubertal is relatively rare; pubertal is
very common, and the most common ages are mid-adolescence and early 20's
(depending on how you define "first episode").
Dr. Phelps
Published December, 2000
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