<p>I totally agree that the “epidemic” of childhood bipolar disorder is the latese diagnosis du jour. I also think that many, if not most patients expect to leave their drs office with a script in their hands. The good doctors don’t do this, but the patients get pi**ed. And with our lovely healthcare system the way it is, the good doctors that want to send the patients for an adequate evaluation of the patient’s attention/organization/executive function concerns before writing that script will often find that insurance wont cover it. But lets not derail the thread.</p>
<p>The only reason I think it worth putting on the thread is that the OP may (or may not) be onto something. The parents may have been advised (by a teacher or by a friend) that medication might help whatever “ailed” the brother, and a physician may have been all-too-happy to provide the script. A conversation couldn’t hurt. If there are good reasons why the brother is on the meds (for up to two years), it should be easily explainable to the OP’s satisfaction.</p>
<p>My fear (as yet unproven) is that childhood bipolar is not a diagnosis de jour, but an actual result of bad medical practice for which many children may pay for much of the rest of their lives.</p>