Child and Adolescent Bipolar Services (CABS), an integrated clinical, research, and training center at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Western Psychiatric Hospital (WPH), organized an all-day interactive, virtual conference on October 7th, 2021. This 4th biennial conference of CABS focused on “comorbid conditions” and was organized by Kelly Monk, BSN, RN along with Education and Consultative Services of WPH (Doreen Barkowitz, MSW, LSW) and co-chaired by Drs. Boris Birmaher and Rasim Somer Diler.
The goals of the conference were to discuss clinical experience and research findings regarding 1) differential diagnosis of bipolar disorders from other psychiatric disorders and psychosocial and 2) pharmacological treatments of pediatric bipolar disorder with comorbid conditions.
The keynote presentation was given by Boris Birmaher, MD a Professor of Psychiatry in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital, endowed chair in early-onset bipolar disease. Other prominent presenters provided evidence-based findings and clinical pearls on differential diagnosis (Rasim Somer Diler, MD), predicting bipolar disorder in at-risk youth (Danella Hafeman, MD, PhD), the link between physical and mental health (Benjamin Goldstein, MD, PhD), psychosocial management (Tina Goldstein, PhD), medication management (Dara Sakolsky,MD,PhD), borderline personality (Rachael Fersch-Podrat, LCSW and Amy Schlonski, LCSW), and navigating care options (Tim Winbush, LCSW; Leslie Phillips, LPC).
Furthermore, a young adult with bipolar disorder and a parent of a child with bipolar disorder shared their own personal experiences with the attendees.
The CABS Conference was supported by IACAPAP and CCBH (Community Care Behavioral Health) and attracted 220 local and international attendees including teachers, therapists, physicians, nurses and family members. The attendees rated the training sessions with very high scores and found the Q&A sessions very helpful. The next CABS Conference is already being planned for October 2023 with the hope of having fewer COVID- related limitations and include in-person training sessions.