I'm a 50 year old female, but I'm online about my family members--I appear to be ridiculously stable. My husband has probably been having bipolar episodes since he was about 10, though he was about 39 when he was finally diagnosed. He is on two mood stabilizers and after many years unemployed and on disability, he is stable enough to work as an over-the-road truck driver (which is not as stressful to someone who really loves it). I also have a son who had his first depressive episode at about 13. He was seeing a therapist to deal with his father's disorder and when I asked, she agreed that he seemed to be sinking into a depression that therapy alone couldn't touch. By the time I could get him in to see the psychiatrist for medication, he was bouncing off walls so the guy puts him on ritalin (very bad idea for someone with mood disorder in the family) and two days later I had a psychotic manic teenaged boy. Not something I recommend. Cut to today where my son is 19 and probably using meth because it's easier to get than the prescription stuff, living on the street with a girlfriend who makes him look sane by comparison. Mental health care has NOT improved greatly for children with bipolar, though children with true ADHD can get treatment.