Childhood Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Bipolar Mania: Neurobiology of Symptoms and Treatments

Advanced practice clinicians, including psychiatric mental health nurse practitioners, primary care nurse practitioners, and family nurse practitioners, may face the challenge of screening for and determining clinical and diagnostic distinctions between childhood attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and bipolar mania in children. The symptoms manifested in each disorder overlap considerably. The purposes of this article are to review the neurobiological literature related to these disorders and to explore the theoretical neuroanatomic and neurobiological basis for symptoms implicated in the screening, assessment, and treatment of each disorder.