How many teens are affected by bipolar disorder

How does bipolar disorder affect children and teens differently t…?

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/bipolar-disorder-in-children-and-teens-a-parents-guide/complete-index.shtml#pub5

Bipolar disorder that starts during childhood or during the teen years is called early-onset bipolar disorder. Early-onset bipolar disorder seems to be more severe than the forms that first appear in older teens and adults.  Youth with bipo…

Do children and teens with bipolar disorder have other problems??

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/child-and-adolescent-bipolar-disorder/summary.shtml#Do-children-and-teens-with-bipolar-disorder-have-other-problems?

Bipolar disorder in young people can co-exist with several problems. Substance abuse. Both adults and kids with bipolar disorder are at risk of drinking or taking drugs. Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD. Children with bipol…

Why don’t therapists Diagnose teens with bipolar disorder??

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080823071144AAQNEHu

Tess…Bipolar disorder is a common diagnosis. If it is not diagnosed then either the criteria for diagnosis has not been met or they want to rule out other possible causes of the symptoms.

Related Questions Answered on Y!Answers

I’m researching bipolar disorder especially on teens, can anyone please help me?

Q: I’m researching bipolar disorder and I’m most interested on how it affects teens. How often do mood swings occur? I’ve researched on the internet and read a lot about it but any additional information would be apreciated. Anything that helps me to understand what goes on the head of people with bipolar disorder. And what medicines are often used, I have a list of some of them but I’m not sure they’re right.

A: I am 16, and was diagnosed with bipolar May-ish of 2007. I had symptoms of bipolar since my early teens, and suffered from severe depression for several years. My hypomanic episodes became apparent around 14, but I began to have frustrating, miserable mixed episodes more than the wonderful manias. I am primarily depressive, but it seems that every couple of months I will be hypomanic for one to several weeks. I have yet to have a florid mania, which is expected when you are primarily depressed and have mixed episodes, although it is not unlikely that I will experience a full mania later on in life. I will be on medication for the rest of my life.Common medications I know of:Lamictal (lamotrogine) which I am onEskalith (lithium) which I am onAbilifyMy brain stopped working… I will remember more in about 2 minutes! :)Many people, particularly with bipolar II (me) are also prescribed antidepressants… and there is a ton of those. I have taken Remeron and Celexa, and some other one I can’t remember.Sleep aids are not uncommon, either, because sleep has been proven to greatly affect those with bipolar. When we are hypomanic we get little sleep if any, and this can aggravate the episode. I do not sleep in severe depressions, either, due to the thinking of life and existence and suicide incessantly through the night. I have taken Lunesta (tastes HORRIBLE,) Ambien, Ambien CR, and something with melatonin. Ambien did cause hallucinations and sleepwalking.Being a teenager with bipolar does give you a different perspective on things… you know teens always have mood swings due to hormones and such, but you have to understand that yours are 100x more extreme, and for me they are often dangerous. You will have to suffer through yours the rest of your life. School can be difficult, particularly in the depressive states. Education, life, everything becomes pointless, and you watch numbly as your hard work vanishes and becomes a 2% overall grade. Then you are slapped in the face once the cloud is lifted and overwhelmed by the devastation your disease has caused. Life seems hopeless… this is a foreshadowing of the rest of your projectedly pitiful life. Then you get to a hypomania, and you begin to kickass in school and feel so amazingly wonderful and energized and full of life, as if nothing will stop you. You forget about being bipolar, you forget about misery and depression. You bask in the ecstasy. Nothing is impossible.And then you crash. The cycle continues. You learn to communicate with teachers and employers and friends (the few that you still have after various episodes) about what is going on. You confront the humiliation of telling an authority figure that you are bipolar, knowing they will have a warped idea of what the disorder is. You then will have to explain in great detail the truth of the disease and the severity it can hold. You grow up a lot quicker, it seems, as an adolescent with bipolar than your average teen. You learn a lot about life, its opposite, and the powers of the brain. You deal with depression, anxiety, anger, and elation, sometimes all at once. Sometimes it is unfathomable that you can possibly survive the next episode… you have no control over what your mind will do to you this time. All you can do is hope and hope and hope for a pure hypomania, with its wonders and greatness, and hope for an absense of a crash. It is hard not to wish for that AMAZING feeling everyday, and dreading the deadly onset of depression or a mixed episode.Statistic: At least 50% of all people with bipolar will commit suicide.Lovely, huh?Hope this helped in the slightest degree,Anna

do i have bipolar disorder?

Q: is it possible for someone to have bipolar disorder because it runs in the family, for example my mom and brother both has bipolar disorder which means that i could have a possibility to have it too. does bipolar disorder affect all people the same? for example my mother is an alcoholic, mostly depressed and have attempted suicide 4 times, my brother is aggresive and addicted to pornography and sex, he used to smoke pot but quit, his 21 now. i dont know if they show any other signs cause i’m not so close to them. i’m 17 now and really dont know anymore, since ive asked my parents for help, but somehow they believe that disorders does not exist in teens and they keep on telling me to change, to be a better person, to snap out of it and become happy, but its really not so simple. ive come to the point of seriously considering suicide, ive tried once but it was a failed attempt and have had some really big urges to just end it all, no matter where i am at that moment, the only thing on my mind is suicide and if theres no one to hold me back, i’m afraid i’ll actually do it. plz tell me if this is any signs of bipolar disorder or if i’m just being fucking stupid again…i’m sad most of the time but ther are times when i’m hyper happy or hyper irritable or just plain different for example,one night i went out and suddenly it was like i was high, i became happy and started talking a lot, things that dont even make sense, i couldnt help myself and i talked really fast and couldnt stop for atleast 5 hours, i jumped around like a hyper retard and then wham i shut down into slow motion and sadness. this have only started happening since i turned 17 and only happens near the end of the month but its really short and usually depends what i’m doing at that moment.ive been cutting since i was 13, sometimes i have this overload of anger and start bashing myself into the wall which causes bruises, i have abused weed, Khat, Acid, Cocaine, ecstacy, lots of painkillers and inhalents since i was 15, i started drinking at 12. nowadays i’m mostly high on weed. i’m super sensitive to stupid things. i had bulimia when i was 15. sometimes i get aggresive, not too much though, i just break things or become a little hyper and beat my brother up, i actually scare people, which is scary. i often go without sleep for a while, i have loads of anxiety, its so much it really feels like it hurts, i get twitchie and shaky or really angry or i just want to cry and cry or hurt myself. i suddenly became very sexual, or whatever you call it, i can do it 3 times a day if id like. i use to bunk school, when i had scool, my points dropped from b’s to f’s all the way and i skipped school for 4 months almost everyday. and suicide, when i was 13 i was so angry at myself for betraying my parents ( I became really drunk and screwd up with some things ) i collected a bunch of pills from my parents pill cabinet and drank em all, i just woke up the next day with a really ba headache. lastly the future seems dull and it doesnt seem like anything good is to come, ever.plz dont be mean, i know i sound f*cked up but plz just let me know if what i mentioned above seems like bipolar disorder.

A: From what you have described, it seems that your mother is bipolar with depressive tendencies and your brother is bipolar with manic tendencies. Bipolar used to be called manic/depression. From what you are describing, it sound like you might have the depressive symptoms but i am NOT a doctor.You should see a pdoc as soon as possible and get diagnosed. Once you are diagnosed you will be able to get on the proper meds and you will feel better very quickly.Good luck. I wish you the very best.

My girlfriend is bipolar and has a history of serial monogamy?

Q: I am 28 and have been in a wonderful relationship for almost two years with my gf who is 23. We have moved in together and have talked about marriage. However, her troubled teen years and her past still haunts me. Besides one serious relationship, she has had many flings for the wrong reasons (she is a serial monogamist by all means), although no one night stands. Her number of previous partners is quite high for her age (somwhere between 15-20). My history is instead of long serious relationships and a pretty normal past. Her upbringing was troubled: divorced parents, an autistic brother, and a mother seriously depressed who turned lesbian and who she has only been able to have a relationship with in the last few years. For these reasons she was a depressed (bipolar) teen who tried to committ suicide twice and who looked for love in the wrong ways. She also seems to have been always surrounded by the wrong crowd until I met her. Most of her girlfriends from the past have been total whores but she claims she was different from them (didn’t cheat on boyfriends, didn’t have one night stands, didn’t do drugs). However, she admits having high sex drive, being attracted to girls, visiting strip clubs on a regular base and watching porn during those years.My question is: because my moral judgement on her past is anything but positive, is it fair to keep that in mind in my current/future consideration of her as a person? Is it fair to put the past completely away because I don’t like it (as if it culd be erased), or what we are today is somewhat very much related to what we have been in the past? How much is her past affected by her own choices and how much instead by her bipolar disorder or family situation? How will this affect our future? I obviosly have resentment toward her family for not being there for her and for not being capable of teaching her good judgement.Unfortunately I write this after another night of arguments which started with one of her girl friends from the past writing to her (an ex stripper, druggy, and bisexual who tried to actually seriously hook up with her at one time). Our arguments about her past are killing the relationship but at the same time, because of my upbringing background, I struggle with the idea of putting a ring on the finger of a woman who has given herself to so many guys by age 22 (and the things she has done with some of them are experiences that we will not be able to exerience together for the first time). This probably has a lot to do with my cultural uprbrining in South-Western Europe, where we are just not used to women portraying themselves as many do in the US (with all the respect).Last night she took my promise ring off, and she said this may be the end. Obviously, I feel miserable but I can’t help the thoughts in the back of my mind.I also think my attitudes and visions are very common to many men still today. It’s actually today’s reality of sexual freedom and serial monogamy that has made people starting to reevaluate the idea of real monogamy and exclusivity. And so it’s natural when in love (vulnerable) to have to face retroactive jealousy.

A: I think you should learn about Borderline – not bipolar. These women latch on to men not for love but as a crutch. You are useful – for the moment.Take it from an oldie – you need not look so deep into the past – what is done is done.The future man, that is your worry. If 20 guys were serious with her, and each one ditched her – you better smell the coffee too.If you resent the family – she already has your view twisted. They could tell a different story in private. If you can’t be solid friends now, the future is doomed to failure.”In sickness and in health” I said to mine. what a fool! I had no idea what mental sickness can do as a daily torture.Either ditch er, or change your name to pisspot