Brandon and the Bipolar Bear

I completely forgot that today's is President's Day, so my planned uber post for today is officially off until tomorrow.

In the meantime, a source tipped me to a couple of books to help the bipolar children recognize their bipolarness. The first is a book with a super cute cover, Brandon and the Bipolar Bear: A Story for Children with Bipolar Disorder. Um, since the disorder doesn't exactly exist in the DSM, the subtitle is a bit off. And, if more kids were behaving like the kiddo on the cover, then I am guessing the Bipolar Child mafia at Harvard would be out of business.

The next book is called My Bipolar Rollercoaster Feelings Book. The latter is some kind of mood chart dressed up as a rollercoaster. The Brandon book is apparently filled with a little boy talking with a bear, and getting useful information about his chemical imbalance and why he must take meds.

There is something of a book industry that has grown up around the Bipolar Child paradigm. Thank God, this paradigm isn't consensus yet. Given time, I am sure the veritas squad at Harvard will preppy that little obstacle to the ground.

Once again, let me link to Maria at Intueri's fabulous post of yesterday on her doctorly frustrations with the BP kiddo who-ha and quote her stepping through some of what actual child psych researchers are putting out there as symptoms, along with my snide commentary:

"Elated mood:

“...it can be very misleading to see a happy child laughing in the office in the context of a miserable history (e.g., school suspensions, family fights).” I used to laugh at adults all the time when I was a kid. I still do.

Grandiose delusions:

“A common presentation for bipolar children is to harass teachers about how to teach a class; this harassment is often so intense that teachers telephone parents, begging them to ask their children to desist.” I called it "constructive criticism."

“Another common grandiose manifestation in children as young as seven is to steal expensive items and be impervious to police officers who attempt to make them understand that what they have done is wrong and illegal.” OK, this is a problem.

“Common adolescent grandiose delusions include are that they will achieve a prominent profession (e.g., lawyer) even though they are failing at school, i.e., the belief that they can have a high attainment when they have failing school grades bypasses the laws of logic.” As I recall, Einstein wasn't such a whiz at math in school.

High activity level:

“Manic adolescents will wait until their parents are asleep and then go out 'partying'." Yes. And we go have sex and look at the stars and wonder at life's odd majesty. We often turn into far more creative and interesting adults than the future technocrats who were the good kids.

Pressured speech, racing thoughts:

“...children state that they are not able to get anything done because their thoughts keep interrupting.” OK. I can buy this one.

Hypersexuality:

“Children may masturbate frequently, initially openly, and then when told not to do it publicly will simply make frequent trips to the bathroom to continue the stimulation.” Oh geez.

“Adolescents develop romantic fantasies and delusions about teachers.” Um, you stare at a hot 20-something teacher for hours on end each day and you'd have to be declared "ill" for not having the odd teacher-related fantasy. And, if they medicate this one away, they will kill off an entire sub-genre of porn.

Risk taking:

“Interest in money appears in young children when they start their own businesses in school and when they begin to order multiple items, trips, and plane tickets.” Take it away, Maria.

"What?

"These criteria significantly overlap with the range of normal. Should every kid who is experiencing difficult social stressors never laugh? Can’t kids be obnoxious and tell off the teacher? Are kids “mentally ill” for possessing dreams and aspirations? Do kids who disobey their parents have a condition that is only treatable with medications? Is distractibility a marker of pathology?"

Moral of the story? Remember Rebecca Riley.