Posted by Horned One on June 6, 2008, at 15:02:36
In reply to 'Growing Up Bipolar' in Newsweek, posted by yxibow on June 6, 2008, at 4:44:18
It sounds to me as though there might be a problem with the father, as if he tends to aggravate his son's behaviour raher than help it. I have a problem with some of the issues raised in the article. I have Bipolar I, and perhaps had some symptoms going back into childhood. I once told my mother that I felt suicidal when I was young, but she just laughed at me.
If I'd had outbursts like that though, I would have been smacked and sent to my room and ignored. I can't imagine my mother asking me "Are you going to start a fight?" and me answering "Probably. Let's just get it over with." That sort of behaviour just wouldn't have been tolerated. I wouldn't have been able to sit down for week after the hiding she'd have given me. I can't help but think a lot of this is a behavioural problem. I may have had some of the same impulses as this kid, but I was taught how to contain and control myself. Nobody saw me as having an illness, so my bad behaviour wasn't excused as such (not that I was ever really badly behaved).
I notice he was diagnosed when he was two (the article makes it sound as though he was diagnosed at seven, after his first suicide attempt, but that isn't the case). I can't help but wonder if the parents over-reacted and played into this diagnosis from the beginning. Also what effect the meds have had on that developing brain. On Zyprexa and Depakote at *TWO*. Ye gods! I also wonder if some of the meds had precipitaed suicidal impulses in him. I think behavioural interventions would be more appropriate as the first-line treatment for toddlers and young children. They need to learn how to cope with their emotions. If their emotions are medicated from such a tender age how can they learn to conduct themselves properly?
"Amy is still figuring out how best to discipline her son. He needs boundaries, but she admits she's a sucker."
I'm skeptical that you can really diagnose bipolar in a two-year old (of all ages). Problem is, once you've got a diagnosis, everything is seen through the lens of an illness. Everything is a symptom to be medicated. This comes through in the article: "And it was hard to look at Max, who has borne so much, and remember that the grin on his face was not a sign of childish goofiness but a symptom of an illness." Why see it like that? Would it not be better for him to just view it as a sign of childhood goofiness?
Another thing that got my goat:
"The mothers of bipolar kids often say their babies are born screaming."
Wow. How unusual. Is this how it all began?
-Horny
poster:Horned One
thread:833251
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20080606/msgs/833317.html