Abstract
Objective
To examine the services and medications received, and psychosocial functioning changes over time of children and adolescents with bipolar I disorder in a public mental health system.
Method
Medical records were reviewed for 82 patients, 6β17 years of age, diagnosed with bipolar I disorder, and newly admitted to one public mental health system between 1 July 2003 and 30 June 2004. A retrospective cohort design was employed, with an 18βmonth followβup period.
Results
Oneβthird of the patients dropped out treatment within a few months. The psychosocial functioning ratings of patients who remained in treatment improved over time on several dimensions (total, school/work, behavior toward others). Children and adolescents prescribed both a mood stabilizer and an atypical antipsychotic medication regimen (35%) were rated as higher functioning on selfβharm behavior and mood/emotions by clinical staff, but their improvement could not be attributed directly to the pharmacotherapy in this small cohort.
Conclusion
Communityβbased pharmacotherapy for children and adolescents with bipolar I disorder does not differ substantially from the extant literature, given the complexity and severity of these cases, and may lead to improvement for children and adolescents who remain in treatment. Copyright Β© 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.