Effectiveness of the Different Treatment Approaches for Children and Adolescents with Bipolar Disorder and a Comorbid Disorder
This study will examine the effectiveness of three treatment approaches for children and adolescents with BPD and a comorbid disorder - biomedical intervention, psychosocial therapy, and both biomedical intervention and psychosocial therapy. At least 60 subjects will be randomly assigned to these three treatment conditions. The Global Assessment Functioning (GAF) scale will be used to determine the functioning of the subjects at the beginning and at the end of the study when the subjects have undergone their treatment programs. The average mean differences of the subjects' level of functioning will be used to determine the extent of the effectiveness of each treatment program. Essentially, the treatment program that yields the greatest difference in the level of functioning will be considered to be the most effective.
Bipolar disorder (BPD) that is characterized by contrasting episodes of euphoria and depression are often associated with other types of psychiatric disorders and substance abuse disorders (SUD) among children and adolescents (Biederman, Faraone, Chu, & Wozniak, 1999; Kovacs & Pollock, 1995; West et al., 1996; Wozniak et al., 1995). Because of the presence of other comorbid disorders, the treatment of BP in adolescents can be complicated by the poor diagnoses of the states of the teen patients. As pointed out by Geller and Luby (1997), the laughing fits that occur as a result of smoking marijuana may be mistakenly diagnosed as the sign of euphoria associated with the manic phase of BPD. On the other hand, the rapid cycling phase, typically experienced by children and adnlescent patients with BPD who vacillate from two contrasting states, may often be perceived as the euphoric highs of drug intake and the sudden drops due to withdrawal (Geller et al., 1995). The presence of the comor...