I was officially diagnosed with BP at age 17 following the first of 5 suicide attempts, although looking back I always suffered from severe mood swings as well as a heightened emotional sensitivity. Over the past two years I have learned more about myself then I think any "balanced" teenage ever would know. My world is working for me (right now) because I take my medication (same time everyday), I go to therapy (same time every week) and I work (same job every day). I guess I don't like change b/c there's something comforting in the "routine" for me. Change stresses me out and when I'm stress the rapid cycling begins. I like to go, go, go but I also like to take things that I'm so sure about slowly.
Nice article Jerry...but its too mainstream thinking. Sometimes we need to think outside the box to come the the correct results. What I can say is that in my case I had one parent (father) that was classic bipolar and a grandmother (my fathers mother) that also had the illness.
So following mainstream thinking...its a pretty good bet that it will be passed on to future generations and can now somehow be seen in young adults/teens. Here is where a few the problems develop...I am one of 5 siblings and the only one to have inherited being bipolar. My 4 other siblings do not although I am sure they would like to use the illness as an excuse for some of the crazy things they have done in the past.
So where would mainstream thinking go here...to watch and treat all 5 kids? What I can say is that I was the quiet one that everyone loved, I usually did as I was told and caused the least amount of headaches. Now my other four siblings were usually acting out, two of the four got involved in recreational drug use (not me)and I am sure all four of them would have been put into treatment based on the aka mainstream thinking now being proposed and I would have been the only one considered normal.
Once we hit our twenties things changed...my four siblings started to settle down and things starting getting a little out of whack for me. I started having depressed and euphoric times with nothing changing in my environment. Again...it wasn't until I reached almost 30 before I was tagging with the illness and started treatment.
So I guess a am fearful of any young child or teen getting tagged with the illness and being put into treatment. As I see it...my four siblings would have been placed into treatment and met the criteria for bipolarism and scarred for life of being misdiagnosed and I would have been missed all together.
Normal teens revolt against parents, think they know it all, have hormones running rampage, stay up till 1 or 2 am in the morning and are exposed to more drugs in the school systems. Are these the new signs to look for in early diagnoses?
Thank you for this article. It has been very difficult to admit that my son is bipolar. He is barely 18 and we have been dealing with what at first seemed like "normal" rebellion, until it became very apparent that something else was going on. I have compared the last year and 1/2 to a drain that just keeps spiraling downward, until he has gotten in trouble with the police and he has missed so much school due to the ups and downs. It all seems so unmanagable.....articles like this one give me hope that there are ways to help him.
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Since my mother had a severe case of bipolar that resulted in her suicide & I seem to have "inherited" it & had my first suicide attempt at 15, I asked my doc how to try to avoid having my children become mentally ill, if possible. He said the most important thing would be to provide a stable & loving family home--which my husband helped with so much.
Both children did end up w/bouts of depression that were treated w/a year of medication & therapy. They are both adults & doing well. Son never had a reoccurence; however, my daughter has had some major depression but is resistant to taking medication due to the stigma as she is a lawyer. The stress of her job & long work hours sometimes seem to put her in a hypo manic state, but so far it has not negatively impacted her life--but the depression is very difficult to handle. She's doing it, though.
i wasnt diagnosed with bipolar until 2005. i am not a teenager..but i remember
reading books in the past, that the personality isnt fully developed until
the age of 18-19 years, then , there is still lots of room for learning and
developing a personality, up until that time.
my biological mother and father, were never suicidal..to my knowledge.
i think the earlier it is diagnosed and treated, the better the outcome.
i dont think it helps to have all of the above.....late diagnosis, no help with
meds.... and dealing with a death of a parent (or) relative, thats heavy
duty, this person has done well. i think we have to find a way to
accept , these ugly events, and forgive 'them' love ourselves and others,
and move forward ........with encouragement.