Wow! I hope you're still out there reading, because I'm having the same problems with my 14 year old who probably has bipolar, but the pdoc hasn't committed to a Dx yet. Mood swings are exhausting and I'm kept busy keeping her "calm" most of the time.

I'm sure that she's manipulating me sometimes and that sometimes she's not but HOW do you tell the difference? I don't want to punish symptoms but it's equally important to enforce standards of acceptable behavior and maintain reasonable expectations.

My own depression just complicates the mess because even when I'm feeling well it's tough to deal with her. When I'm down, it's completely impossible. Would love to chat sometime with other parents of BP teens. I'm just really starting to learn about the disorder and how to cope.