Bipolar Disorders

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 di

. . .
easure the level of mental well-being is the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF) Scale. This scale that is derived from APA's (1994) DSM-IV is used to measure the "psychological, social, and occupational functioning on a hypothetical continuum of mental health-illness (p. 32). Ranging from zero (lack of information) to 100 ("superior functioning"), the scale assesses individuals in increments of ten, with each level presenting a higher level of functioning than the level below (p. 32; see Appendix A). Before being assigned randomly to the three conditions in this study, the subjects' initial level of functioning will be rated in accordance with the GAF scale. This level will be determined in the raters' early screening of the subjects and subsequent interviews with the subjects and the parents. The rater, the subject and the parents will each be asked to provide a rating of the subject at the beginning and at the end of the study. The composite scores of all the aforementioned parties will be used to determine the level of functioning of the subjects. The relative effectiveness of the three treatment programs will be measured by the mean difference of the level of functioning of the subjects in each treatment condi
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Geller Luby, GAF Scale, Quality Life, Procedures Study, Apart SUDs, Osborne Costello, BPD SUD, Functioning GAF, Kovacs Pollock, Apart GAF, children adolescents, adolescents bpd, et al, children adolescents bpd, comorbid disorders, treatment program, gaf scale, patients bpd, child adolescent, american academy child, treatment psychosocial, level functioning, child adolescent psychiatry, academy child adolescent, bpd comorbid disorders,
Approximate Word count = 2603
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)