There are stages of recognition, adjustment, and adaptation to an illness, and each family travels through the stages in its own time and its own fashion. When the symptoms are mild and interspersed with periods of good functioning, it is not difficult to attribute them to events such as a death in the family, a divorce, or a temperament that is

Our study of 120 children with early-onset bipolar disorder revealed that over 60 percent had some pronounced degree of separation distress, often preceding any other diagnosable psychiatric symptoms. These children expressed great fearfulness and anxiety about the loss of their parents, exaggerated worries about harm befalling their parents, and

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.

Denial abounds, especially, it seems, on the part of the fathers, who may feel the need to minimize the severity of the problem.

Don’t judge yourself by how the child responds, but by how you respond.

It comes out so quickly; faster than a knee-jerk reaction. It’s like electricity shoots through me. It’s like being struck with lightning. I feel rage and hurt and need to strike back. It becomes primal—infantile. I would throw things, smash a couple of frogs between rocks. I was raging all the time—every day, multiple times a day, verbally

These children seem to burst into life and are on a different time schedule from the rest of the world right from the beginning. Many are extremely precocious and bright—doing everything early and with gusto. They seem like magical children, their creativity can be astounding, and the parents speak about them with real respect, and sometimes even

Many children like William are profoundly affected by the difficulty they have in modulating aggressive impulses, and this intense fearfulness can come to dominate their inner world. They tend to attribute negative meaning to events and perceive others as threatening, hostile, or judgmental, which may not be the case at all. These youngsters may

And as most parents have found out, behavior management techniques do not work with these children: No amount of star-or-sticker charts or time-outs, and no threats of grounding or unplugged TVs and Nintendo sets, is going to make a whit of difference. These children are not moved by threats, explanations, or even bribes for very long.