Reading this I realized that seeing statements that BP is over diagnosed and also that kids can't have bipolar disorder (or it's very rare and over diagnosed in kids) is kind of a trigger.

Not make me upset trigger, but it makes me...frustrated.

Because I see people (not here necessarily but out in the internet) say, "Well those kids just need discipline" or "the parents are doping their kids to make them easier to handle" or my least favorite - they just need a good spanking.

Growing up I heard from more than one source (including at least one therapist) that 1) if I loved my mother I wouldn't make her cry and 2) if I wanted to be like the other girls I could be. My problems were boiled down to self discpiline and, basically, that I was spoiled. (and maybe to bad parenting, I have no idea that was never said to my face).

Now, I don't have the greatest of self discipline so I'll admit that but my problems were so much more than that. And I looked like a spoiled brat child. There were truancy issues and I just stopped going to school my freshmen year of high school (combination of depression, anxiety of new school, anxiety over a friendship, and agrophobia - although that I realize in hindsight). I shut down.

I could be rude and obnoxious and have public meltdowns that led to lashing out, including to strangers. I remember one time I was rude to an employee at a restaurant when my mom's parents were visiting. Mom sent me outside to wait. And they lingered over eating. I sat out side and fumed and cried and tried not to draw too much attention to myself because it was so embarassing. But I still acted like a spoiled brat.

I had no filter and no off switch on my emotions and no tools of any kind to deal with it. If I had antipsychotics, my life would have been easier.

I think about that all the time, how different my life would have been if I had access to medication at a young age.

Maybe I'm an exception, but it would have done me good. I would have taken them, my parents would have gladly given them to me and it would have been the right choice.

Maybe I would have had actual friends, learned social skills from having friends, and joined extra ciruclar activities and been able to take more challenging classes in school. Maybe that change would have meant college for me, a career, a sense of self instead of having this feeling of being a blob without form or function or purpose.

I will admit there are probably kids out there who are on meds who don't need to be. But equally as sure that there are kids out there who need to be on meds and aren't.