Can a 4 year old child be diagnosed with bipolar?

No, at that age, it is VERY difficult to determine what could be bipolar and what could be normal childhood development. All kids at that age have poor attention spans. Usually parents at this time have high expectations for their child or do not understand their developmental level. It is very tragic that a child that young was diagnosed AND medicated. I would hesitate a lot before placing that kind of label on a kid so early in his life.

I assessed a 3 year old once for ADHD and I observed the child in daycare, gave him an intelligence test, and a lot of questionnaires to his parents and teachers. Even with all that info, it was still inconclusive. So, here's what I told his parents:

At this time, <the boy> does not meet diagnostic criteria for Attention-Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder or Oppositional Defiant Disorder. It is difficult to establish the diagnosis of an attentional or disruptive behavior disorder with children under the age of 4 because normal behavior at that age may resemble symptoms of ADHD and ODD. <The boy's> behavior, while disruptive and aggressive, appears to be consistent with his development level and similar to most boys his age.

Bipolar disorder does not usually show up until late teens to mid to late 20's. So NO I do not think that a 4 yr. old can be diagnosed with bipolar disorder. As far as ADHD goes my nephew, who we raised, has ADHD. Now looking at most of the kids that are diagnosed now days, I believe that a lot of times the kids do not really have ADHD. I think the parents do not know how, or do not want to deal with their kids. It is way over diagnosed. My nephew was a drug baby and 100% has ADHD. No doubt. If some of those parents who believe their kid has ADHD would take my nephew for a few days they would see their child differently.

It's important to get treatment for bipolar disorder as early as possible.

People with bipolar disorder may not know they have it. Some don't seek treatment because they are ashamed of what they feel. Others may be incorrectly diagnosed with other illnesses, such as depression, anxiety, or schizophrenia.

Without the appropriate treatment, the disorder could become harder to treat. Getting appropriate treatment for bipolar disorder may help people live more normal lives.

Learning how to recognize bipolar disorder may help someone get an accurate diagnosis and appropriate treatment more quickly.

The older a person gets, the more frequent their episodes can become. If a person experiences four or more episodes a year, the disorder can become more difficult to treat. So it's important to get treatment as early as possible.

No, no, no. Little kids should not be diagnosed with depression. They have just started life and look, they're being labelled as victims. Bipolar disorder is a bad diagnosis anyway, it's just something the prozac pushers say to get you to swallow their rubbish

If you take them to the right DR they can that is one of the reasons the rate of A.D.D. and A.D.H.D has gone up, I wish there was a way to actually educate people about the fact that to many people are looking for Psychological reasons first in children that young instead of at medical or environmental reasons first.

I think they CAN be diagnosed as such, but I would have my doubts about any clinician that did so. People are really messed up.