ADD & BiPolar Disorder

Sponsor: The Manhattan Adult ADD Support Group
http://www.maaddsg.org



WHEN: Thursday / April 12, 2007 /

Time: -- 6:30 doors open
-- 6:50 announcements
-- 7:00 presentation and group discussion:

WHERE: Seafarers & International House 2nd Fl. meeting space
123 East 15th Street (northeast corner, 15th and Irving
Place)


Topic: ADD & BIPOLAR DISORDER


WHO: Cathryn Galanter, MD, clinical psychiatrist;
Assistant professor of clinical psychiatry, Columbia
University


Overview:
How can we tell the hyperactive form of ADD -- or ADHD -- from the
"up" phase of bipolar disorder?

The latter -- known too as "manic-depressive disorder" or simply
"manic-depression" -- is defined by drastic shifts (www.nimh.nih.gov/
publicat/bipolar.cfm) in mood or behavior or energy level. If life
were an amusement park, it might be a choice between the bumper-car
ride and the roller coaster; but the signs don't always make clear
which is which.

For example, hyperactives can be energetic, impulsive, distractible,
or moody -- and so can bipolars. There are differences -- elation,
grandiosity, decreased need for sleep -- but not everyone agrees on
what these are. Symptoms vary; perceptions differ; and a result has
been a fierce debate over who should be classified with what.

But: it's not always a matter of picking one diagnosis or the other.
Sometimes, both seem to co-exist within the same family -- or the same
person. There's also a category (Bipolar II) for those with a lesser
degree of mood instability; while some argue that moodiness is a core
feature of ADHD itself. Adding a note of urgency
is that treatments vary -- and what eases one situation might worsen
another.

Helping us sort through these issues will be psychiatrist Cathryn
Galanter.* Dr. Galanter earned a medical degree from NYU, and
underwent further training at Columbia, where she now teaches. At the
school's Center for the Advancement of Children's Mental Health, she
directs the Program on Diagnosis and Clinical Decision Making.

Dr. Galanter also maintains, in Manhattan, a private practice geared
largely (though not entirely) to children and teens.
* asp.cumc.columbia.edu/facdb/profile_list.asp?
uni=cg168&DepAffil=Psychiatry