Well, I showed difficult child the list. He said "I don't want to hear it". I said - listen, these people all had or have BiPolar (BP) and they were successful at their jobs - at the things they love to do. He did listen, and the one that impressed him most was Theodore Roosevelt - he has a thing for Presidents. His eyes got very large and he asked me if he could have the printout. I'm going to take that as progress for now.
difficult child had a disappointment last week - he has missed 5 karate lessons since starting up again this past fall due to psychiatric hospital inpatient stay, etc., and was not allowed to test for his next belt along side kids he started out with. On the way home, he cried and I could have. I told him that I understood his sadness and frustration, but that it was how he handled the situation in the next few weeks that was going to mean something. He hasn't wanted to talk about it, but wanted to last night, so we did. He argued the fairness of the situation and I said I understood, but he also said he was going to congratulate the kids who got the new belt. We'll see how that goes - there is no karate this week because the kids have the week off school, so we have another 7 days for him to prepare himself. We'll see.
Thanks for the responses. The list was great and maybe long term it will help him. There were quite a few people on the list that truly surprised me.
