What are Bipolar Disorders?
Bipolar disorders are illnesses characterized by extreme mood swings,
from the deepest suicidal depression to the most elated "highs". They
include bipolar I (manic depression), bipolar II, cyclothymia, and
seasonal affective disorder (SAD).
Some of the most famous artists, musicians, politicians, and writers
of our time have been bipolar, and so have been a disproportionate
number of the inmates in our juvenile facilities, psychiatric hospitals,
and prisons.
SEBASTOPOL, CA --As many as one million children in the United States
have childhood-onset bipolar disorder. Until very recently, bipolar
disorders were almost never diagnosed in children, and only rarely
recognized in adolescents. Of the 2 million or more adults diagnosed
with a bipolar disorder, between 20 and 40 percent experienced the
illness in their childhood years. Psychiatrists now recognize that
manic depression is frequently misdiagnosed as ADHD (attention deficit
hyperactivity disorder).
Mitzi Waltz, author of
Bipolar Disorders: A Guide to Helping Children & Adolescents,
brings together the latest information about diagnosing,
treating and coping with bipolar disorders as they occur in children
and youth. The symptoms and solutions can differ from those for adults.
This book provides parents and professionals with information on:
- How to get a diagnosis and how to avoid common misdiagnoses
- Family life, including, safety, support, and recognizing and
preventing mood swings
- Medications, with special emphasis on the physiology and
responses of children and adolescents compared to those of
bipolar adults
- Therapeutic interventions, including various "talk therapies"
- Other interventions, such as improving sleep patterns,
preventing seasonal mood swings, diet, and supplements
- Insurance issues
- How to work with the education system
When bipolar disorders appear in youth, the ravages can be severe.
Suicide is a common outcome, as are school failures, limited job
prospects, legal difficulties, substance abuse, and expensive
hospitalizations. Parents of bipolar children are in dire need of
information on what to do and how to get help. Waltz' book is a
comprehensive and reliable resource guide that provides parents and
professionals with the tools to make informed decisions.
About the Author
Mitzi Waltz is a Portland, OR-based freelance writer who has covered
technology, health and medicine for publications ranging from
Parenting to Covert Action Quarterly. As a journalist and mother of
a young woman with bipolar disorder, she knows firsthand the struggles
that parents of bipolar children endure. She is also the author of
Pervasive Developmental
Disorders: Finding a Diagnosis and Getting Help
(Patient-Centered Guides, 1999).
Bipolar Disorders: A Guide to
Helping Children & Adolescents
by Mitzi Waltz
$24.95, 444 pages, paperback
ISBN: 1-56592-656-0
PUBLICATION DATE: January 2000
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