The constant exercise of oppositional and stubbornly defiant behaviors in interactions with others, while personally and socially maladaptive, serves the greater goal of preserving self-identity. Ultimately, however, the continuation of this behavior draws greater and greater negative attention, further isolating these children from others, narrowi

Profound fears of loss and separation, the difficulty in adequately modulating intense emotions of elation, irritability, and the aggressive and sadistic impulses, coupled with discrete deficits in visual-motor integration (in the area of attention and executive memory and in the capacity to decode social cues accurately), have placed significant o

You know that Ryan has unique problems, and for some reason, he experiences any limit-setting in a catastrophic way. If we tell you “no” you are able to hear us. But, unfortunately, Ryan cannot, and we feel that it is better for the family to eat dinner, do homework, watch a movie, or play a board game without a three-hour rage going on in the back

Every morning, in America and abroad, many parents of bipolar children wake up and experience dread as they prepare to get their children up for school. Contrary to cheery television commercials where families gather around quaffing fresh-squeezed orange juice, these parents often have to mount a siege simply to get their children out of bed.

Another mother wrote that her son “has never been a child; he always thought like an adult. At the age of four he got very exercised and wanted to know, ‘Why can’t I have a phone in my room?’”

The degree of “regression” during angry episodes is typically more severe for children who are bipolar. It is rare to see an angry child who is ADHD display disorganized thinking, language, and body position, all of which may be seen in angry bipolar children during a tantrum. Children who are bipolar may also lose memory of the tantrum.

In our survey and in direct interviews, we asked parents how they initially understood their child’s early symptoms and behavioral difficulties. The answers that came back to us were varied. Many parents blamed themselves and criticized their own parenting skills. “We thought we weren’t firm enough,” they wrote; or “Maybe we weren’t always consiste

Bipolar disorder uproots all these hopes and expectations, as suddenly and violently as an earthquake. It shakes a family to its core; now parents suffer the anguish of watching their child in pain and fear for the quality of his or her future. Hopes and expectations may have to be modified and mourned. One mother whose daughter has the illness and

During a rage, I feel as though the real me is over on the stairway watching myself, but I’m powerless to stop it.”