The COBAD Syndrome

Dr. William Niederhut, a graduate of Harvard Medical School, had been practicing psychiatry for almost twenty years when he realized in 2003 that both of his young daughters were suffering from a serious mental illness. His search for an understanding of the problem led to his identification of a hidden, familial syndrome in himself and in many of his adult bipolar patients, which he has called the Childhood-Onset Bipolar Attention Deficit, or COBAD Syndrome. As he began to identify the syndrome in many of his adult patients, he also found that it could be effectively treated, often with dramatic results. After reporting his findings to the American Journal of Psychiatry in March of 2005, he wrote a detailed account of the events leading to his identification and successful treatment of the COBAD syndrome in his adult patients, presented here in this seminal work on the subject. In his book, he reviews the research data supporting his diagnostic and treatment approach, and argues that the proper diagnosis and treatment of the COBAD syndrome will dramatically improve outcomes for millions of people who are currently diagnosed with bipolar disorders or ADHD.