Bipolar toddlers? Maybe discipline is the answer

A book review seen here, and on the author's website here. From a book review on The Bipolar Child (Broadway, $27.95), by Dr. Dimitri Papolos and his wife Janice. Here is a fair use snippet:

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Seemingly, the Papoloses would have us believe that behaviors normally associated with toddlerhood are actually manifestations of a disease that should be treated with drugs that have pronounced negative side effects (e.g., nausea, diarrhea, severe drowsiness, significant weight gain) as soon in the child's life as possible. Are the "terrible 2s" a disease?

Should most toddlers be on drugs? I have to admit to having no small amount of difficulty with the reasoning involved here. One thing is certain: The Papoloses are a boon to both the mental health and pharmaceutical industries. I'm not so certain they are a boon to children.

In their book and in the May 2007 issue of their newsletter, available through their Web site, the Papoloses recommend against using the word "no" with a bipolar child "because it will trigger a meltdown." When they were toddlers, my children often suffered wild seizures at the sound of "no."

Interestingly, however, these seizures were eventually cured with regular doses of that very word in combination with consequences the Papoloses would probably consider draconian. My wife and I were unaware that we should have been giving them drugs.

In the same issue of their newsletter, the Papoloses say that parents of bipolar children should "suffer the physical abuse" of their children. Over the past few years, I've consulted with quite a few parents of children ages 2 and older who were prone to hitting and kicking their parents when their parents did not give them their way. In nearly every case (I actually know of no exceptions), these kids were cured of their criminal tendencies in short order by parents who did not suffer this abuse, parents who administered not drugs but quite old-fashioned discipline.

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Cited in the column is a satire with the title “The Diagnosis and Treatment of Childhood”, which also fits well with the satire "Babies: 100% suffer from Depression" cited earlier on this site