24: A Day in the Life of Bipolar Children and Their Families

[MrSpemat]

I grew up with summer mania and hyperactivity and 2 classes of meds have "shut me up" since age 4, Depakote and Ritalin or Dexedrine and I adapt well as an adult on those meds but as a kid, I was a brat... those labels can enable a brat and as an adult be the "in the middle" advocate between doctors meds and diagnoses because they enable denial IMHO...

[MrSpemat]

@MrSpemat mania is like being possessed is a shame...

[gmartinez75]

For all the people with rude comments....your narrow minded and ignorant. Who are you to think you know what it is like to live with bipolar.  Lets just hope you dont grow old and develop dementia and get stuck with family or care person that doesn't get it and doesn't care. You will suffer as everyone of these families do. Lets hope you dont get in an accident that damages your mind so badly that you can no longer be self sufficient. Because Karma is a bitch!

[Aliyabeaboo]

I read your book,,..it was really informative..thanks..I feel like I am not alone.

[coscopjen]

There are many children suffering from bipolar. The Bipolar Child is an excellent source of information and solutions. The road is long and hard when raising a child with bp. Hang in there. Keep searching for the right care providers and be proactive!

[lukesXlilXangel]

I bought the bipolar child book WOW! My daughter was diagnosed with bipolar at 11 years. What a releif to finaly have some one say what is wrong. The dr gave her meds and sent us home. I bought the book on the way home. Until you are rasing a child with bipolar you have no idea!!!!

[psychawareness]

The problem is that these poor children are stuck in between arrogantly ignorant non-scientists and arrogantly ignorant mad scientists.

Everyone should fuck off and stop ruining the lives of these kids because you think that you have all of the fucking answers.

Parents who have a child with these problems are often in a very difficult position, but I will say that all of these psychotropic drugs promote chemical imbalances and brain abnormalities, even if they appear to be "working."

[honestkenny]

@psychawareness and yet so unaware....

[DBforVP]

I read the book. What a revelation! We adopted a baby in 1980. We were baffled by behaviors that were not normal and could not be managed with regular parenting. My wife was a teacher and I did personnel work so we had good backgrounds for parenting. We struggled for years to find out what was going on! Eventually our daughter was diagnosed with bipolar and put on medication. It has made an absolute world of difference. How much better our lives would have been with that diagnosis at 5.

[84272121]

A doctor whose son diagnosed as bipolar once said that he wished his son had leukemia instead because the prognosis for his survival was much better if he had leukemia. Bottom line, i don't care what it is called, I just want to help him and I want unknowledgeable and inexperienced people to stop believing that they know what to do about it.

[AlterEgoTrip]

love him as he is and try not to change him and give him time is what I say... is that so wrong? Give him your love and time.. what most parents think they do but don't do.

[84272121]

Lastly, I will say that I have seen my son suffer to the extent that I would love to be able to say that his problems are my misunderstanding, the professionals' misunderstanding, even my own fault because that would be a lot easier to fix than to feel as helpless as I do and as afraid for him as I am.

[AlterEgoTrip]

one can be a part of a problem by "perception", to "fix" someone is not accepting them for who they are.

[84272121]

I have a child labelled bipolar. He is only 9 and has struggled and suffered for years with behavioral issues and I have spent the whole of my life caring for him since he and his sister were born. Let me first say that if you've not had a child with severe problems that interfere with every aspect of his life, please don't assume to know ANYTHING.

[shelbear9]

Your all stupid and you dont want to admit what could be wrong.Face the truth and realize that a child is not suppose to act this way. They are not suppose to hurt you physically severely they are not suppose to throw Objects and hit you. These are issues that need to be face and you need to stop hiding it.

[quarterduce]

People aren't born knowing the rules of social behavior. They LEARN them by having adults around them set consistent limits and consequences. It's called PARENTING. Shoving drugs down the throats of perfectly healthy toddlers is NOT parenting. It's a way to avoid it.

[Sheebles66]

You have no idea what you're talking about! Obviously you don't have a child who suffers from Bipolar Disorder because if you did, you'd be eating your words my friend.

And by the way...no parent wants their child taking drugs... but what's the other option? To have a dead child????? Do more research before you comment on these children!!!

[mybipolarkids]

I have to say that yes children do learn social behaviors. Yet unless you have a Bipolar child you shouldn't be quick to judge or ridicule anyone. I have 6 children 5 of which are Bipolar and one is autistic along with being Bipolar. You have no clue as to what it is like. Maybe you should come to my home for just one day! By the way my youngest was 3 when she was diagnosed and she is now 6 and if she didn't go on meds she probably wouldn't be here today. It's not about the parenting here.

[quarterduce]

Right on, this is disgusting. As if childhood is a mental illness, what a crock of crap.

[quarterduce]

OH PLEASE! You are describing NORMAL child behavior!! Childhood is NOT a mental illness!! You should be ashamed of yourself, damaging kids' self esteem and pushing poison on them.

[ruckrover8]

Labelling children "bipolar" is extremely controversial. Child psychiatry in most other countries outside the USA does not do this - manic-depressive disorder prior to late teens is extremely extremely rare. The children Mrs Papolos describes have severe problems yes - but in virtually all cases it is not bipolar disorder.

[quarterduce]

They don't have severe problems. What they have is NORMAL childhood and moronic parents!

[headrickwife]

look..do YOU have behavior problem children in your home? if not don;t down on these parents thathave obviosly tried, as well as i have, every other behavior modification, therapy and any other help available to them before they put their kids on meds and or labled them as bipolar. i do however believe that all a bipolar child should b puton, if anything might b a mild mood stablizer and not anything else until they are adults.

[quarterduce]

Here's an idea for ya DONT HAVE KIDS IF YOU CAN'T DEAL WITH NORMAL KID BEHAVIOR. Children act like that, it's part of their development. You as a parent have to deal with it, not drug them.

[headrickwife]

if you would have actually read my comment, you would have realized that i can and do deal with normal kid behavior on a daily basis. you no nothing about me. i have 4 children 15, 14, 12 and 10. i have NEVER dealt with the behaviors that my 10 year old is exhibiting. and no, i don't condone DRUGGING children. next time please take the time to read the entire comment b4 getting so defensive.

[duckkid32]

I have 3 kids 2 so called Normal and 1 with bipolar same rules but they do not have the same behavior. Why dont you go work with bipolar kids before thinking you have the right to judge us parents that spend 24/7 taking care of are kids!

[cajass1]

Having a child with Bipolar disorder is NOT NORMAL kid behavior. I am the parent of a bipolar child and a child with ADHD and bipolar tendencies. Normal does not work for these children. Also, drugs may not be the best answer but sometimes it is the only answer. If you see that the child is happier with themselves with drugs that is the best thing. Do you think these kids like thier own behavior? They do not have control over them....

You need to open your eyes to reality.

[mybipolarkids]

Is it truly normal for a 3 year old to try to put there head through a T.V.? I would say hmmm, NOT!

[mybipolarkids]

You should really think before you speak because it seems to me that there is a lack of education for you, I feel really sorry for people that are so narrow minded and ignorant. Do you even know anything about the human brain? I'm sorry probably not!It's a brain abnormality not a misfunction with the parents! I hope some day you become educated for your own sake. There's really no room for ignorance in this situation.

[duckkid32]

You must not be a parent or know much about peoples behavior you are the moronic person

[ozjthomas]

"It comes out of nowhere"

In my experience, mental problems never come out of nowhere, but children are especially vulnerable to hormones and new experiences they don't yet understand. I agree that it's not always the parents fault and that there are many dynamics at play, but what you are proposing is reckless and ignores real problems in favor of cover up. I'm so glad I went to school before this whole forced psychiatry era.

[SFJane]

at 9:25

"Because we know there is something very poorly regulated in the central nervous system of these children."

False. Not true. Not scientifically proven. You are required to provide specifics of what that something is.You have no specifics, you are just guessing wildly. I got over the lightning rage. I learned to control it through force of will.

[sweetchilover]

It would seem to me that you do not have a bipolar child/teen living in your home daily, do you?

If you do perhaps you are in denial. If you don't then you have no say on this subject for it very different to raise such a child that to merely know one.

[SFJane]

of course I don't have a bipolar child in my home, no one does!

I did however grow up with a quote quote bipolar mother, bipolar sister, almost bipolar brother, and of course I got my Bipolar Dx at 14. There is plenty of *bipolar* to go around in my *bipolar* family. You made that account just to respond to me and watch this video.

[quarterduce]

Give me a break. Anybody can create a baby, I guess you were surprised when your kids act like normal kids! You're taking the short term easy way out by telling them it's because they are defective and drugging them into oblivion. It will not be good in the long run when your kids' self esteem is damaged and worse they end up with severe drug damage. You should grow up and be a real parent and accept that kids are not always easy to deal with. FFS, they are kids!

[duckkid32]

do you know they have the highest rate of killing them selves before they become adults with out meds. My son 1 of 3 started his odd behavior at 3 hitting his head on the wall or hitting himself(not Normal)

[LinuxKid27]

You're an abomination to the human race and species! Your book is trash and theirs no way in hell would I ever go out and buy a copy! It's fill with crap and tools on how to abuse a child mentally and physically! It's people like yourself who demolishes self esteem to young people and turn them into depressed people. Isn't that what your goal is, right? to prescribe more medications to children.

[AlterEgoTrip]

are they having troubles before or AFTER medication and how do you tell the difference between so called Bipolar symtoms and actual childhood development and or for example higher functional autistic syndromes? Do you really feel that medication of children is a viable option or is it just a new way to make money?

[AlterEgoTrip]

Janice Papolos you sound a bit in need of backing off of your own life.... and looking at what children really needs to vent.. so it this how you diagnos a dynamic? Extreme reactivity? These rages sound like what happens with Asperger Syndrome like symptoms... but is it because in America you can't get insurance because of this mind set (I would never call a difference in brain a disorder or disease)?

[LinuxKid27]

AlterEgoTrip,

It's another way to make a profit from children who Can't defend for themselves. It's truly disgusting for people to do this kind of thing for a living. I think it's them that has the "mental" problems, not the children.

[AlterEgoTrip]

I don't believe there is such thing as a bipolar child, and I too can assume that this labling of children with an idea which will not change and that will result in the life time medication of the children is obviously illogical and an abuse of the psychological dianostic system which is already questionable in the case of adults, I want them to tell me directly, openly without pulling any punches how their system of dianosis is justified.

[LinuxKid27]

I not only believe in Bipolar disorder, (which by the way I was diagnose of having as an adult) but I also don't believe in these so called mental illness labels thats listed on the DSM. People behave differently because they have a reason to do it. Maybe they didn't experience TLC from their parents as young child, maybe they've experienced trauma in their lives? Maybe their so overwhelmed by work or school that their contently stressed.

[AlterEgoTrip]

There are so many things that mimic this behaviour that they believe varifies the presence of Bipolar, its not funny.. because once people like this get a hold of you, and you belief their systems of thinking, basicly, its a sentence for the rest of a person's life. I still am a layperson in the community, but I'm one of those people that has not been within the system..but if you know anything about me, you know I see it as a flawed system of belief and should not be bought into.

[cajass1]

Bipolar children and Bipolar adults do not necessarily have same "symptoms" that is why it is so difficult to diagnos a child w/ bipolar.

[LinuxKid27]

Go to Google and type in "Stress symptoms: Effects on your body, feelings and behavior." Click on the first link, it should be the mayoclinic website. Why do you have to take a pill for experiencing a natural human reaction? It's perfectly normal for a human to get stressed, hell any other species that lives here on this planet also have stress.

[AlterEgoTrip]

I agree once again.. although there are people have a tendency when they are addicted to something, to go outside of themselves and seek answers via chemistry, I think psychiatry like this does is sell drugs (only legally) to take the place of illegal substances which will also lead to some of the same conditions..where as natural emotion doesn't need repression but rather EXPRESSION. This expression can change the world for the better as well.

[duckkid32]

Your a joke you must have been living in a dream world! Wake up there are mental illness and bipolar is one of them. Is it normal to be happily telling a story then maybe a light bulb burns out and then get mad throw things , cry , or bang head on wall because the story was interuped

[LinuxKid27]

AlterEgoTrip,

I hope at the beginning of the segment of the DVD where you can see the fireplace burning in the background, I hope it's her office and not her house. If it is her house, it proves how much of a scam artist she is. I wonder how many parents she scammed into believing that their children were mentally ill and needed medications to "fix" their behaviors and the so called "Chemical imbalance".

[AlterEgoTrip]

When this lady when on talking about getting her child's special note book and the dry cleaning and set a schedual so inflexible that she couldn't take a shit without it ruining her schedual.. what kind of feelings do you think children growing up knowing they are just monkey wrenches in tight scheduals going to feel?

[AlterEgoTrip]

Yet today more and more people live a life where somewhere along the line they had children or even ADOPTED children and then thought that it was kind of automatic to raise them.. that in a world where a couple rarely has enough time for one another.. isn't it cruel to assume that all children can be fit into a schedual? When a child acts out or reacts to a desire to get back some time, to lable it chemical imbalance or something else when its NEED.. is also cruel.

[honestkenny]

@AlterEgoTrip DERPDERPDERP.