Manic depressive illness in adolescence and childhood: review and case report

The literature on this topic from its inception by Kraepelin is reviewed. While Kraepelin and the French school always recognized juvenile mania, the Anglo-American school has no such unanimity of opinion. Less than 100 cases are described in the world literature. In Canada affective psychoses are rarely diagnosed under age 10 and of all affective psychoses admitted to institutions less than 5% are under age 20. The differences between child and adult mania are outlined. It is proposed that manic-depressive illness occurs in children but is not diagnosed more often because of its dissimilar presentation to the adult form and doubts about its existence in childhood. The case history of a 14 year old boy who presented in a hypomanic state is described. There was a strong family history of affective disorder. Both his parents and his half-sister were already on lithium for manic-depressive illness.