[GSC2019]

1988: a male child is born.

1997: parents divorced

1998-2000: father remarried and his wife abused the child; boy was medicated for ADHD and ODD. Then sent to a special school for behavior

2000: father committed suicide because of a combination of known life issues

2001-2003: child went from school to school; diagnosed as bipolar 1

2004-2006: child almost a man was rebellious and reckless in a foster home.

2006: child turns 18 and heads to live on his own and falls into the wrong crowd

2007-2008: man goes though state of partying, smoking weed and drinking. Completely unstable way if life.

2009: man shapes up and goes to college

2009-2015: college years; fails out in senior year

2015-2018: man struggles to make a living while seeing a new pdoc. New pdoc doesn't believe the man to be bipolar. He believes the man to be OCD, GAD, and angry. The man cannot describe extreme highs and lows. Just massive amounts of anxiety, obsessive mostly and irritability. Depression only when the anxiety breaks the brain.

2019-2020: man see no pdoc, man takes lamictal and Zoloft. Man predominantly still only suffers from anxiety and anger issues.


**** Bipolar diagnoses can be wrong when you're a child. Especially if the ones diagnosing you don't know you were abused... Mental illnesses can over lap and look like other things. The story of your life can make all the difference.

[*Beth*]

I have heard that no psychiatrist should ever diagnose anyone under age 18 (minimum) with bipolar disorder.

[bpcyclist]

I very clearly had hypomania and one major depressive episode before age 18. Documented. Scientifically, the notion that this vast illness of the brain is only permitted to occur after the age of 18 is so preposterous that I want to laugh. Mot throwing shade on Bether at all. She is my sister. She saves my life and I love her and what she wrote is true. But these illnesses do mot respect borders we humans may erect. That is all I am saying.

Hugs!

[GSC2019]

I'm just laying out the idea that Bipolar diagnoses in children and adolescence can be very wrong

[sarahsweets]

I agree that sometimes misdiagnosis’s happen especially in children. At the same Time under diagnosing is also a very real issue.

[*Beth*]

Originally Posted by bpcyclist

I very clearly had hypomania and one major depressive episode before age 18. Documented. Scientifically, the notion that this vast illness of the brain is only permitted to occur after the age of 18 is so preposterous that I want to laugh. Mot throwing shade on Bether at all. She is my sister. She saves my life and I love her and what she wrote is true. But these illnesses do mot respect borders we humans may erect. That is all I am saying.

Hugs!

I entirely agree. I also had strong symptoms that began to manifest to others when I was 8...although, honestly, I remember hypomanic and depressed feelings as young as age 4. Definitely.

I've just been told by pdocs that diagnosing BD before age 18 is not generally done because of the possibility of other dx's, especially during teen years.

Personally, I'm glad kids are given psych help at young ages these days. I believe that if I had received therapy and meds (which, unfortunately, were not really a great option back then) my life would have been so much less challenging.

[Soupe du jour]

I agree that psychiatrists and child therapists should be very thorough in their evaluations, because I'm sure there are both misdiagnosed and proper ones for bipolar disorder.

I think it's difficult in that children's bipolar hypomania or mania often presents with rants, angry outbursts, hyperactivity and/or violence. There are just so darned many conditions that present that way, including major teenage strife and trauma. I am sure that my bipolar disorder started at 14 years old, or even younger. It did become easier to identify that beginning point after years of issues, just as it can be clearer to some that bipolar disorder wasn't the right dx. Either way, it's a shame when there is misdiagnosis or lack of.