Help Explain To Me

[GEORGIA]

I Have A 14 Year Old Daughter. We Discovered She Had Bipolar About 1 Year Ago. I Can Say It Is Getting Worse. Her Time Of The Month Is Uncontrollable, Her Mouth Is Out Of Control. I Dont Know What To Do At Times. Do I Let Her Just Go Off And Then Give Her Punishement When It Is All Through? Or Do I Excuse It Because It Is A Mental Health Issue? I Have Tried Both Things.. I Am Totally Lost And Fearfull For Her And Sometimes Us Here At Home.

[Mark]

:confused:

Sometimes with a teenager who has a mental illness, it is hard to separate out what part is the illness and what part is just teenager behavior.

Is your daughter currently being treated for her bipolar disorder? Are your daughter's outbursts limited to her time of the month or do they also happen at other times? I've noted that psychiatrists sometimes use antidepressant medication to tone down emotional outbursts that occur at menstruation time. This can be tricky to coordinate with a bipolar condition, however. Maybe it is time for a checkup or adjustment of her medication?

Mark

[Guest ASchwartz]

Thank you for your very important question. When I worked in the Day Treatment programs a common statement among staff was that mental illness is no excuse for bad behavior. Naturally, one of the things we helpe clients with, whether they had schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, was how to control their behavior regardless of their emotions. The same holds true for your daughter. That is why she should be seeing a psychotherapist in addition to taking her medication.

Cognitive behavioral therapy is what I would recommend because it would help her learn how she thinks in distorted ways and would learn how to replace those thought with those that make sense and are not distorted. I have known a number of people with bipolar disorder who have benefitted from CBT.

Just because your daughter has a bipolar disorder does not give her permission to be threatening or out of control.

Get her into therapy quickly and, if she attempts to harm you or the family call 911 for help. She must learn that there are limits. Also, speak to her psychiatrist as quickly as possible because there may be a medication issue and because he needs to know what is happening.

Allan

[GEORGIA]

jamie is currently taking abilify 10 mg and effexor-xr 150 mg daily, and for quick results she takes 1/4 to a whole 5 mg. tablet of clonazapam... we see our phys. about every 3 weeks for now until we get things in order. about 2 weeks ago she was so bad i thought this was it. she kicked a door so hard with her shoes on she severely bruised her foot from middle on up to her toes. now her best friend is moving away and i am worried for her.

her time of the month is very uncontrollable. a few days before the whole week of and a few days past... wow!! i feel sorry for her husband...

her outburst are any time. she does not accept change very well. if there is something planned and it gets rearranged she could go off... or just like little things, for instance hair dye.. i wouldnt buy it for her and we ended up having a horrible night..

i also have a daughter with cognitive disabilities who is 18 and i am raising a grandson, i have alot on my plate but i need to help her and dont know how.

thank you all so much for your advice and input, it is so much appreciated.

[Guest ASchwartz]

Wow, you are coping with a lot. There must be other parents out there struggling with similar situations. How do you cope?

Allan

[GEORGIA]

We Had A Dr. Visit Yesterday. He Increased Her Abilify To 15 Mg. We Go Back In 2 Weeks. Now Today She Doesnt Want To Go To School..so I Go From Her Bedside To Downstairs, For About An Hour Then She Gets Up And Takes Her Good Ol Time Getting Ready. It Is A Weekely Sometimes Daily Cycle.. I Deal With It By Taking It Day By Day. When We All Have Good Days I Cherish Them.