Manic Depression and Your Teen
Knowing How to Deal with the Highs and Lows of Mood Disorders
Manic depression or bipolar disorder is often not effectively diagnosed in teens. Learn about their unique symptoms and how to treat this common mental illness.
Manic depression, or bipolar disorder, is often only diagnosed in adults. Teenagers often present with mood swings from glee to gloom. This emotional rollercoaster can be perfectly normal and attributable to hormones or personal issues. However, if there is a history of bipolar disorders in your family and your teenager is experiencing extreme highs and lows, a diagnosis of manic depression could be the result.
The SymptomsIn bipolar disorder, periods of manic behavior are usually followed by episodes of depression. Manic forms of behavior can include rapid talking, extreme giddiness, bouts of excessive laughter, high energy, sleeplessness, absurdly inflated ego, and the inability to focus on any task.
Depressive episodes can involve exhaustion, stomachaches, low energy, talk of suicide, disinterest in daily activities, over or under eating, careless sexual encounters and drug and alchohol use. Every case is different; some individuals are more prone to being manic, others to depression, though frequently a surge of mania is attended by a crash of depression in a vicious cycle.
How Is it Different for Teens?While adults and teens can both be diagnosed as having Bipolar 1, Bipolar 2 or Cyclothymia, teenagers are more likely to manifest with shorter, more intense bouts of the disorder. Adults can tend to have longer periods of mania or depression; adolescents may see-saw between the two extremes several times a day. Adults are more likely to return to "normal" functioning amid the highs and lows. With teens, the shifts may be more rapid and violent, rarely allowing them a mood respite.
The way teenagers are perceived by adults makes their condition harder to diagnose. Adults often expect teens to have extreme moods and present with problematic behavior. Thus, their condition is usually attributed to a phase, or willful disobedience, and punished or ignored. The teenager may then turn to addictions or crime as a way to escape their disorder, thereby worsening the symptoms.
What to Do when Your Teen Is Bipolar
There is no cure for manic depression but there are ways to manage it so your teenager, and you, can live with the condition. Take your child to a psychiatrist to discuss the symptoms. A lengthy period of counselling usually follows during which the teen's environment, history, habits and emotions are discussed. The psychiatrist will then draw up a treatment plan. This usually involves low dosages of mood stabilizing drugs like Prozac combined with careful monitoring through counseling, journaling and support groups.
Often, once your teenager is on a regular routine of mood stabilizers, you will notice an increased contentment, an ability to concentrate, a decrease in drug taking, improved sleeping and eating patterns and hightened functioning. At the same time, your teen needs to get regular exercise, eat healthily and be reminded by her supportive network that managing this disorder is possible.
