Bipolar disorder and comorbid anxiety disorders in children and adolescents.

Recent attention has focused on the association between bipolar disorder and comorbid anxiety disorders in children and adolescents. There is a high rate of comorbidity between bipolar disorder and anxiety disorders in children and youths. Often, a child or adolescent with bipolar disorder has multiple comorbid anxiety disorders. In general, anxiety disorders precede the development of bipolar disorder in children. Comorbid disorders may worsen the course of each individual disorder. Pharmacologic management of the comorbid anxiety disorder is complicated by potential mood destabilization in a child or adolescent with bipolar disorder.