Last night as I was flipping through the channels I stopped at a documentary titled, “Diagnosis: Bipolar” on HBO. Being that I have a child who suffers from Bipolar disorder I watched about the last 10-15 minutes of it. I certainly want to catch it in its entirety. It was like seeing portions of what we go through everyday on the television.
Bipolar is a brain disorder that severe mood changes occur. According to www.BPkids.com there are “bouts of extreme and impairing changes in mood, energy, thinking, and behavior.” Many people are under the misconception that this is a strictly behavioral issue that is easily fixed by behavioral modification. While behavior modifications are certainly important it is a brain disorder. I know that my daughter hits a point where she looses it and is no longer in control. I do not know how to explain it. You can see in her eyes when she is gone. After an episode she immediately becomes very depressed. She talks about not wanting to live and tells me she hates herself because of how she just acted. She is unable to explain what is going on in her head at the time. She clearly feels bad.
As my daughter continues to age it is becoming more difficult. The fact that she is prepubescent has made her treatment difficult not only for her but also for her Doctor. She is suffering socially because other children her age do not know what to make of her. The trouble is that my daughter has a HUGE heart. She will do anything to help others. She can be extremely compassionate. She is wonderfully excited about so many things and very inquisitive.
I certainly want to catch this documentary again. I am sure that they picked some of the most severe cases to show. That is what they always do. I just want to see how these kids have been helped over the course of a year. For now I will continue to muddle through. Some days are wonderful and others not so much. Either way she is my baby girl and all I can do is try and help her in anyway I can!
Becca
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At first I was excited about this documentary on bipolar disorder. But the I thought about how many of these shows make a mockery out of people in bad situations. I hope they don’t do this.
I only caught the last few moments but it would be a shame. I think that they had some extreme examples. They were not your typical functional bipolar. They were the extreme. My husband caught it the other night and was furious about it. He said one of the children appeared to be more on the autistic spectrum and some of the other had three kids medicated although they did not all have classical adolescent bipolar. I do not begin to consider myself an expert. I live it every day with my husband and my daughter. I know how misunderstood they often are and I see how they struggle with it. I am so trying to fit watching it in. I will repost when I do.
Becca
Becca,
I hope you decide to watch the HBO documentary Diagnosis Bipolar in its entirety. My son is “Andrew” and he has gone without a full bipolar episode in almost 4 years. We completed our portion of filming in February 2008 and Andrew had gone almost 2 years without an episode as of that date. I wish your child stability and peace of mind.
Marcie Thank you so much for sharing. How great that you have had almost 2 years without an episode. I will be thinking of “Andrew” when I watch it. Bipolar is difficult enough in adults. I cannot imagine how these children deal with it all. I will soon be launching a new website called bipolar kid connection. I have thought a lot about having a site where ABigail and other kids could discuss how they feel. We as adults, are not in their minds. We cannot determine how they will react and why. I think that having support form one another without having to actually meet face to face may have some benefits! Thank you again for stopping by http://www.askbecca.com. I hope to see you again really soon!
Becca
I thought overall that HBO did a good job on this particular documentary. It was rather eye opening to see how severe that the children are being affected by the disorder. For those that are interested there is a movie called Boy, Interrupted which is definitely a must watch for anyone interested or trying to help someone with mental illness. take care
I am not a huge movie watcher. I have not seen Boy, Interrupted yet. I will have to check it out. Thank you so much for the suggestion. Bipolar is very real and very difficult for families to deal with.