Is Your Teen be Suffering from Bipolar Disorder?
Typically, the symptoms of bipolar disorder show up during teenage years and early twenties. In rare cases, the symptoms can show up during early childhood. The behavioral patterns of adults with bipolar disorder can be different from those of children.
Teens with bipolar disorder go through episodes of depression and mania, extreme lows and extreme highs. These are mostly periods of extreme mood swings that have wide arches. Teenagers with bipolar disorder are often excessively happy or excessively sad. Here are just a few symptoms of bipolar disorder.
Symptoms of Mania:
- Talks too fast
- Train of thought seems to race
- Has trouble sleeping
- Has delusions of grandeur about one’s self
- Extremely impatient
- Oftentimes displays aggressive and impulsive behavior
- Makes reckless decisions
- Has trouble focusing on one thing
Symptoms of Depression:
- Prolonged melancholy mood
- Prolonged loss of interest in usual activities
- Feelings of worthlessness
- Inability to appreciate pleasure
- Suicidal thoughts
- Anxiety
- Prolonged loss of appetite
- Feelings of lethargy
- Irritability
These periods of mania and depression can last for months or weeks and in some cases, people with bipolar disorder alternate between manias and depressive episodes in one day. Because of the effects of the mood swings that they experience, bipolar tee n often turn to alcohol and drugs to take the edge off what they are feeling.
Some engage in dangerous activities for the adrenalin high. However, doing these things will actually make the symptoms worse in the long run and can make it harder for doctors to diagnose that they have bipolar disorder.
How Can Parents Help Their Bipolar Teen?
When parents see the symptoms of bipolar disorder in their teen, the first thing that teens need to feel from them is acceptance and support. It can be quite frustrating to live with teens that have bipolar disorder, but it’s not something that can get better just by deciding to feel better. It’s not something that can be solved by sheer willpower.
There is no cure for bipolar disorder, although there are treatments that can help control the symptoms. Like other incurable medical conditions, bipolar teens need to work closely with their doctors and therapists and have a clear teen bipolar treatment plan in order to manage the disorder better.
This treatment plan includes medication and therapy. Teens on bipolar medication must report any changes that they are feeling at any point because the hormonal developments they experience during the adolescent years can affect the way their medication makes them feel.
In order to provide support for their bipolar teenagers, parents are also advised to seek therapy and to educate themselves about the disorder. This helps them put the disorder into perspective and learn ways on how to deal with this as well as how to create a home environment that is conducive to managing the symptoms of the disorder.
In order to help teens with this disorder, parents need to be patient and to constantly make the effort to encourage their teens. Teens need to be able to talk to their parents about their challenges. Parents are also the best people that can help their teens understand more about their disorder and have hope that treatment can help them feel better.