Toronto, ON

Screening Tool: Bipolar Disorder in Children/Youth

This survey is a screening tool designed to detect children/youth who may possibly have symptoms of mania/hypomania. It is NOT a diagnostic scale, i.e. it is not designed to be able to diagnose bipolar disorder. Diagnosing bipolar disorder requires a thorough evaluation by an experienced mental health professional.

 

This scale is the Parent Young Mania Scale (P-YMRS) and is meant to be filled out by parents.  Special thanks to Dr’s Barbara Gracious and Eric Young for permission to use this scale.

 

Instructions to Parent
 

Please read each question below and circle the answer which best describes your child:

1. Mood - Is your child's mood higher (better) than usual?
2. Motor Activity/Energy - Does your child's energy level or motor activity appear to be greater than usual?
3. Sexual Interest - Is your child showing more than usual interest in sexual matters?
4. Sleep - Has your child's sleep decreased lately?
5. Irritability - Has your child appeared irritable?
6. Speech (rate and amount) - Is your child talking more quickly or more than usual?
7. Thoughts - Has your child shown changes in his/her thought patterns?
8. Content - Is your child talking about different things than usual?
9. Disruptive-Aggressive Behavior - Has your child been more disruptive or aggressive?
10. Appearance - Has your child's interest in his/her appearance changed recently?
11. Insight - Does your child think he/she needs help at this time?

References

 

Discriminative Validity of a Parent Version of the Young Mania Rating Scale. (Gracious, Barbara L, Youngstrom Eric A, Findling, Robert L, and Calabrese Joseph R et al). Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry (2002) 41(11): 1350-1359.

 

Marchand W et al.: Validity of the Parent Young Mania Scale in a Community Mental Health Setting, Psychiatry (Edgmont). 2005 Mar; 2(3): 31-35.