It is a common misconception that bipolar disorder only occurs in adults. In truth, bipolar disorder is not limited to adults at all. The mental illness, also known as manic depression has been diagnosed in babies, children, and teens alike. In fact, teen bipolar and mood disorder is not at all uncommon, and is increasing every year.
For parents, it can be difficult to stand by and watch your teenager go through teen bipolar and mood disorder during their adolescent years. Family support is the key in helping them cope—just being aware of the symptoms, prognosis, and potential medications can be immensely helpful in supporting an adolescent with bipolar disorder.
What Are the Symptoms of Teen Bipolar and Mood Disorder?
Unlike the distinct symptoms of bipolar disorder in children, the symptoms of teen bipolar and mood disorder strongly resemble those of adult sufferers. The two types of bipolar disorder that a teen might experience are
- Bipolar I and
- Bipolar II
Bipolar I adolescents:
Bipolar I cause an adolescent to alternate between episodes of intense mania and depression. The symptoms of Bipolar I include:
- decreased need for sleep
- poor judgment
- grandiose delusions
- elevated mood (in severe cases)
- hallucinations
Adolescents with teen bipolar and mood disorder often get involved in risky activities, displaying racing speech, increased mental and physical activity. Other symptoms include
- agitation and irritability,
- change in appetite,
- thoughts of death and suicide,
- sadness and crying spells, and
- low energy
It is common for the adolescent to seem relatively healthy in between the episodes.
Bipolar II adolescents:
For Bipolar II adolescents, the disorder presents with a cycle of recurrent depression interspersed with episodes of hypomania. The symptoms of depression are similar to those in Bipolar I. Periods of hypomania are known to be times of great creativity for people who suffer from bipolar disorder.
Getting Better?
It is common for symptoms of adult bipolar disorder to begin presenting themselves in the late teenage years. Unfortunately, adolescents who experience an early onset of symptoms usually experience a more severe form of bipolar disorder, requiring a longer recovery time.
Suicide is a common risk associated with bipolar disorder, particularly in depressive cycles, and this risk is even more critical when referring to a bipolar disorder in adolescents. Talk of death or not wanting live should be taken extremely seriously!
Keeping Control
Scientists and doctors have not yet agreed on the best method of treatment for teen bipolar and mood disorder. Most are waiting to determine which treatment method is best for adults before making a recommendation for teens. However, there are medications that help adolescents with teen bipolar and mood disorder to live a fairly normal life.
After all, isn’t that what any teenager wants?
Solutions for Coping with Teen Bipolar and Mood Disorder
Teen bipolar and mood disorder, also known as manic depression, is a mental illness where the teenager swings through extreme moods of mania and sadness, generally in a short period of time.
The depressive phase of teen bipolar and mood disorder usually requires substantial professional help, as well as support from the teen’s family and loved ones.
How to Treat Depression in Teens?
Depression in teens is a very serious subject. Every year 4 percent of teenagers are suffering from major depression. So, professional help for depression is a crying need.
It is healthy to feel sad, but depression is prolonged sadness without recovery. And if your teen suffers from depression, you will likely find their school grades will suffer, the relationship with their friends and family will be strained, and they will engage in more harmful behavior like unprotected sex and drug usage.
However, with the proper resources, depression in teens can be treated. With that said, most depression in teens in the United States goes untreated. This is unfortunate, because depression that is untreated will only get worse, and be harder to treat if treatment does take place.
Bipolar disorder and reactive depression are the two most common forms of depression in teens. Reactive disorder deals with prolonged states of sadness and feelings of unworthiness in teens. Bipolar disorder once referred to as manic depression, is a depression where the teenager goes through extreme moods of mania and sadness, usually in a short period of time.
The evaluation of depression in teens can be made when you observe a certain number of different symptoms. Prolonged sadness and no feeling of relief from crying are the two most important signs of depression in teens.
Another sign is unnecessarily feeling guilty and having low self-esteem. Finally, other indicators you should consider are indecisiveness, they pessimistic view of life, sleep patterns that are irregular, an intense irritability, and so forth.
At first a teenager with depressed may search a trusted person for sharing his/her unresolved issues. The trusted person may be their parents, family doctor, school counselor, and trusted the person of the church, clinical or counseling psychologists.
Depression in teens is normally treated with psychotherapy, counseling and/or medicine. A professional psychotherapist provides psychotherapy sessions for depression which tend to identify the issues, causes, and prevention. They give importance on teen’s feeling and thinking. Most of the time the main causes of depression is guilty feeling and cognitive distortion (Miss perception of the original fact), that can be simply handled by suitable Counseling/psychotherapy of a professional.
For severe depression in teens, medication might be essential. The medications will be prescribed by a professional psychiatrist. Sometimes depression of teen starts taking medicine.
To sum it up, consider the facts I’ve offered in this article as they relate to depression in teens. This information can be used for you to help determine the best course of action, and to make sure your teen is not suffering unnecessarily because of depression.
So, although depression in young people with teen bipolar and mood disorder can be very serious, there is plenty of help at hand. With a combination of medication, professional help and family support, teens suffering from bipolar disorder and depression can live normal and fulfilling lives.
You may also like:
Potty Training Toddler-Best Way to Train a Toddler