[Mom_Of_Many]

I have adopted two RAD kids and two bipolar kids withiout RAD. It isn't that hard to tell. First of all, the right meds bring bipolar into line. SEcondly, bipolar kids do make eye contact and are very remorseful after they have acted out or had a rage. Both of my RADs hated being touched. My bipolars are highly affectionate and used to seek out my comfort when they had been out of control. My RAD kids were deliberately in control, staging acting out for their own purposes and never meeting my eyes or acting sorry for their behaviors. The destruction that the RADs did was more serious than my bipolar kids (although some bipolar kids can get violent, especially on antidepressants or stimulants---not good for bipolar k dis). The history is mandatory. The biological component is overwhelming. If your child is on a good mood stabilizer or two plus an antipsychotic (the two meds most commonly helpful together for bipolar disorder) and the child imporves a lot, you are likely treating bipolar disorder. I would NOT ask a therapist, psycologist or social worker to diagnose this. They have no medical training and tend to say everything is behaviorally based. But if the child has a bipolar parent, and a history of substance abuse in the family (another big red flag), it is a good idea to try bipolar meds on the child. RAD therapy will not do a thing for bipolar disorder. He could be written off as a RAD kid who just won't heal. Bipolar kids with RAD is another story......I wouldn't want to have to deal with that and try to sort out what is what. I do not seem the same lack of compassion or lack of caring in my bipolar kids that I saw in my RAD kids. My bipolar son, who we got at two, may have had a bit of RAD when we first got him (looking back), but he was so young and got so much hugging and affection that now we are very close; very bonded. I think the age you get the child is a factor too, but that's just my opinion. I think it's important to figure out what is what (from a child psychiatrist). I can see RAD therapy scaring a bipolar child to death and not really helping, but making the bipolar worse. A lot of bipolar kids are scared to death of everything and many have hallucinations. I hope this helped. This is my experience only.