Psychiatric symptoms and syndromes among adolescent children of parents with lithium-responsive or lithium-nonresponsive bipolar disorder.

Objective: The purpose of this pilot study was to describe the initial course of psychiatric illness in the adolescent children of parents with bipolar disorder who were divided into two groups on the basis of their response to long-term lithium monotherapy.

Method: Proband parents met Research Diagnostic Criteria for bipolar illness and predetermined criteria for a clear response or nonresponse to lithium prophylaxis. All adolescent offspring were interviewed by a blinded interviewer using the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children, and final diagnosis was made by blinded consensus.