Official criteria for bipolar disorders

One or more episodes of mania lasting at least four days;

Mania includes at least three of the following: inflated self-esteem, grandiose behavior, greater talkativeness, decreased need for sleep, racing thoughts, increase in goal-directed activity, distractibility, needlessly taking dangerous risks.

Juvenile Bipolar Disorder

Same criteria, but childhood mania may have different symptoms and can be shorter, with "ultra-rapid cycling," when shifts in mood occur every day or multiple times each day;

Conventional symptoms of mania may appear in age-adjusted form.

SOURCES: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, and Dr. Joseph Biederman, chief of pediatric psychopharmacology at Massachusetts General Hospital.