forkeeps251
Member
Just need to vent a little 
For the second time the other day, while I was talking to them about the problems I'm having with my youngest son, someone said "He sounds bipolar".
I'm getting a little tired of hearing that! This time though, it came from someone who REALLY should know better, as she has a LOT of exposure to kids with problems (autism, abuse, etc).
It seems like people hear about his anger and aggression issues and think "oh, bipolar".
Of course, we are still awaiting a full evaluation, so we can't rule anything out at this point, but I think this would be pretty unlikely.
I found a website that seems pretty good to me, as it acknowledgers that a lot of "manic" behaviors are also sypmtoms of a lot of other stuff... like hyperactivity could be ADHD, social anxiety could be, well, social anxiety.
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Se...anagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=102859
So, I went through the list of bipolar symptoms for my own peice of mind: (From the website above, my thoughts in red)
[h=2]What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents?[/h]One of the biggest challenges has been to differentiate children with mania from those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Since both groups of children present with irritability, hyperactivity and distractibility, these symptoms are not useful for the diagnosis of mania. By contrast, elated mood, grandiose behaviors, flight of ideas, decreased need for sleep and hypersexuality occur primarily in mania and are uncommon in ADHD. Below is a brief description of how to recognize these mania-specific symptoms in children.
Those are the reasons why I think it's unlikely that he is bipolar. My husband was incorrectly diagnosed as bipolar before (he was suffering from depression), and it seems to me people are thinking that it is something it isn't.
Yes, my kid has problems. He definatly has anger issues, and social issues. I suspect that he may have sensory problems, but like I said, we are waiting on a diagnosis. So why do people seem to jump to the conclusion that he sounds bipolar? The first time, someone who knows little to nothing about even children in general said this. The second time, it was someone who knows my kid, and knows many, many other kids with disorders. I don't think is around any children who are actually bipolar though, so I don't really think what she says carries much weight anyway.
Just had to come somewhere and vent
For the second time the other day, while I was talking to them about the problems I'm having with my youngest son, someone said "He sounds bipolar".
I'm getting a little tired of hearing that! This time though, it came from someone who REALLY should know better, as she has a LOT of exposure to kids with problems (autism, abuse, etc).
It seems like people hear about his anger and aggression issues and think "oh, bipolar".
Of course, we are still awaiting a full evaluation, so we can't rule anything out at this point, but I think this would be pretty unlikely.
I found a website that seems pretty good to me, as it acknowledgers that a lot of "manic" behaviors are also sypmtoms of a lot of other stuff... like hyperactivity could be ADHD, social anxiety could be, well, social anxiety.
http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Se...anagement/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=102859
So, I went through the list of bipolar symptoms for my own peice of mind: (From the website above, my thoughts in red)
[h=2]What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder in children and adolescents?[/h]One of the biggest challenges has been to differentiate children with mania from those with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Since both groups of children present with irritability, hyperactivity and distractibility, these symptoms are not useful for the diagnosis of mania. By contrast, elated mood, grandiose behaviors, flight of ideas, decreased need for sleep and hypersexuality occur primarily in mania and are uncommon in ADHD. Below is a brief description of how to recognize these mania-specific symptoms in children.
- Elation. Elated children may laugh hysterically and act infectiously happy without any reason at home, school or in church. If someone who did not know them saw their behaviors, they would think the child was on his/her way to Disneyland. Parents and teachers often see this as "Jim Carey-like" behaviors. I would say he does not act like this. He is no sillier than any other five year old. 99% of the time, unless he has an outburst, he acts like a normal five year old. Even the school psychologist noted that he had plenty of "normal" behaviors.
- Grandiose behaviors. Grandiose behaviors are when children act as if the rules do not pertain to them. For example, they believe they are so smart that they can tell the teacher what to teach, tell other students what to learn and call the school principal to complain about teachers they do not like. Some children are convinced that they can do superhuman deeds (e.g., that they are Superman) without getting seriously hurt, e.g. "flying" out of windows. No, never. Not anything like that, although it does remind me of a guy a dated in high school. Maybe he is bipolar?
- Flight of ideas. Children display flight of ideas when they jump from topic to topic in rapid succession during a normal conversationnot just when a special event has happened. Nope, nothing like this either.
- Decreased need for sleep. Children who sleep only 4-6 hours and are not tired the next day display a decreased need for sleep. These children may stay up playing on the computer and ordering things or rearranging furniture. He goes to bed at 8:30 and wakes up at 6:30 or 7... so I would say he sleeps plenty. Also we have no problems getting him to go to bed. He pretty much goes right to sleep.
- Hypersexuality. Hypersexual behavior can occur in children without any evidence of physical or sexual abuse in children who are manic. These children act flirtatious beyond their years, may try to touch the private areas of adults (including teachers) and use explicit sexual language. Um no, and thank goodness, he is only 5.
Those are the reasons why I think it's unlikely that he is bipolar. My husband was incorrectly diagnosed as bipolar before (he was suffering from depression), and it seems to me people are thinking that it is something it isn't.
Yes, my kid has problems. He definatly has anger issues, and social issues. I suspect that he may have sensory problems, but like I said, we are waiting on a diagnosis. So why do people seem to jump to the conclusion that he sounds bipolar? The first time, someone who knows little to nothing about even children in general said this. The second time, it was someone who knows my kid, and knows many, many other kids with disorders. I don't think is around any children who are actually bipolar though, so I don't really think what she says carries much weight anyway.
Just had to come somewhere and vent
