Evaluations for Families Out of state

November 6, 2013
A reader asked:

We would like to have our 11 year old daughter evaluated for BP. Her father has BP2 and my uncle was BP1, so she has family history of it on both sides. We tried to first get her evaluated when she was 7-8 years old and had no luck finding help here where we live (Las Vegas, NV). We tried three different therapists and none of them were able to help her with her issues (separation anxiety, anger, mania). Now that she has hit puberty (approx. for 1 year now), she is continuing to show signs of mania, little sleep, anger and lashing out verbally, and other symptoms. She also gets depressed and recently shared with me that she cut herself. We are able to travel to LA. Would the CHAMPS program be willing to evaluate her, even though we are "out-of-state"? I recently shared the family history with her and she is very open to finding out if this is what she has been dealing with. Thank you!

Dr. Dave:

Yes, we routinely offer evaluations to fanmilies/kids who live out of state. Call Brittany Matkevich at 310-825-2836 and explain the situation.

By the way, it is not unusual for kids who later develop either bipolar disorder or depression to have anxiety and anger outbursts before any full mood episodes develop. But having these symptoms early on can also indicate other conditions such as generalized anxiety disorder or ADHD.