ABSTRACT
Bipolar used to be called manic-depression. The idea was that these “ill individuals” cycled between something called “mania” and something called “depression.” Research shows a clear linkage between achieving top grades and “bipolar disorder” diagnoses, between scoring high on tests and “bipolar disorder” diagnoses, and between other, similar measures of mental accomplishment, brainpower, and mania. Diagnosing children with juvenile or pediatric bipolar disorder is largely an American phenomenon. If the “mania” part of “juvenile bipolar” is a problematic construct, so also is the “depression” part. Most people, even if they do not feel that they really understand what “mania” connotes, intuitively feel that they do know what “depression” connotes. They have what they consider the common-sense belief that the mental disorder of depression exists.
