A bipolar child I work with has been describing visual hallucinations.?

Question

Is this characteristic of people with bipolar? I am confused because a psychology teacher told me that people with mental illnesses such as bipolar or schizophrenia only have AUDITORY hallucinations, and the only way a person can have visual hallucinations is from drugs or alcohol, or withdrawal from these substances.
The boy I work with is 11 and has been describing hallucinations he has of ghost girls who come into his room and stare at him. He is very frustrated because when he tells his parents, they tell him that its just his imagination... but its real to HIM! COuld this be due to bipolar, and if so, how can I help him????

Answer 1

First off, if the person in under the age of 20, they can not be diagnosed Bipolar!!!!!!!! Some doctors will issue a diagnosis instead of telling parents that the environment is causing the behavioral problems. Sounds more like the child is "seeing" these things as a cry for attention and it IS very real to him! Many medications can produce visual hallucinations.
I say this because I was misdiagnosed Bipolar at a very early age. The information I have been given by Psychiatrists, therapists, and the GOD given information act, states that if the person has not fully developed physically and emotionally (after puberty) the diagnosis is misrepresented. Find out more about this child, his family, his living situation, his school, and who his friends are. You will learn more that way.
To many labels are put on children who haven't learned how to express themselves in the right way or even to communicate. Parents are the ones who teach this first, then teachers. Do this child a favor and get to know everything you can! You may be the only person who can prevent his life from getting worse. I know from my life experience that this label will always make one feel like they will never be good enough.
I thank GOD every day that I found a great psychiatrist who was able to get me to the root of my problems and take that label away. After over 20 years of hell, I feel like a normal person and can go on with my life.
I wish some one would have been as interested in me as you are of him.
Make sure you tell him everyone goes through these things at one point or another. Reassure him that he is just like everybody else and don't refer to him as a "mentally ill" child. That will make him feel less than and not worthy.
Please look into his home life and help him!
My prayers are with you and this child. Good Luck

Answer 2

Some people that are diagnosed with bipolar disorder also may have schizophrenia. There is a connection between the two. I have come across this site that claims that 40% of children will have both visual and auditory hallucinations. The most common is auditory but can also be visual. I myself have had visual hallucinations and do not do drugs or alcohol. I have never been diagnosed either but chances are I have mild schizophrenia as it is hereditary and my father has been diagnosed with it. Hope this helps. I dont think the childs parents should be telling him its his imagination, they should sit him down and explain to him what is going on with him and help him find a way to deal with it. He is in my prayers.
This pshyciatric teacher needs to be re-educated

Answer 3

My first suggestion is get his parents to take him to a child psychologist. Something you might mention to them (if you need to light a fire under their bums) is that it is horribly hard to diagnose children/teenagers accurately. I personally went through 4 diagnoses before a doctor hit on the right one. Sit down with the parents and collaborate on a list of all the observed symptoms...and also ask the boy what bothers him, at 11 he is old enough to be able to tell you if something is really a problem for him and recognize abnormal behavior. When I was around that age I noticed that staying up for a week straight sometimes wasn't something any of my friends did and asked my parents about it. I've never heard of a person with ONLY bipolar hallucinating..but that doesn't mean they can't. And it also doesn't mean that all the boy you know has is bipolar. There are more ways than just drugs to hallucinate as well. Another thing to tell them is that sometimes symptoms of one illness change as you get older and go through puberty...and finally make it obvious what illness they're in line with. As a child my doctors though I was OCD, chronically depressed, and anti-social. When I stabilized after then hormonal upheaval of puberty it became obvious I was bipolar and looking back in hindsight I was only obsessive about things during a manic episode and only anti-social during a depressed one. I also mellowed out from true manic episodes to hypomanic spells, which are much less frantic. You could also suggest to the parents that perhaps they ask the doctor if they're willing to just treat symptoms until the boy is older...and they can more accurately identify his illness. I finally found a doctor who wouldn't label me and so was open to trying medicines that other doctors wouldn't (I have opposite and averse reactions to many medicines which made my treatment harder). And speaking of medicines, you should have the parents ask the doctor about the side effects of the medicine he's on (if any) because I've actually been hospitalized during an episode of medicine induced hallucination. It's usually a very very rare side effect (if it is at all) but just because it's rare doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Also see when the onset of the "ghost"s were...if it corresponds with the medicine perhaps they should try another...just because there aren't enough reported cases of the side effect to make the it onto the warning label doesn't mean it can't happen. I'm glad this boy has someone in his corner and you're a wonderful person for being concerned for him! Good luck in getting him any help that he needs.

Answer 4

Well, visual hallucinations are a big deal and they are quite rare however, it is not impossible for one to have them without substance. When there is a presence of VH, it is considered to be a main feature for psychosis and bipolar pts can have the illness with or without psychotic features. Perhaps he is not just bipolar, he may have an addiitonal undiagnosed illness which is also common as the field generally does not wish to "label" kids until after adolescence.

Answer 5

Yes, this can be a component of bipolar disorder. Psychotic individuals (i.e. schizophrenia/bipolar/etc.) can have other types of hallucinations besides auditory; they can also be visual, or olfactoral, or gusafactoral, or somatic (the other four senses). I'm sorry to say your psych teacher wasn't entirely correct. I would certainly let his mental health provider (psychiatrist, psychologist, clinical social worker, whomever) know that this was going on; a change in medications would probably be indicated. I wouldn't know exactly what to recommend you say to him because I don't know enough of the circumstances. Generally, if someone complains of hallucinations, an appropriate therapeutic response would be something like, "I know that the things you're seeing are real to you, but I can't see them. Tell me more about what you see".

Answer 6

Of course, consulting a medical professional is your best bet; but I have known my fair share of people with bipolar, and hallucinations, auditory or visual, aren't symptoms of bipolar; bipolar with psychotic episodes, but not just bipolar. This child needs to be on medication most likely, he needs to visit a psychiatrist immediately.

Answer 7

I'm type II Bi-polar and the textbooks say I shouldn't have experienced auditory or visual hallucinations, but have. There are no rigidly defined lines in making a diagnosis, but a general set of symptoms that, when experienced together, constitute a diagnosis. Not everybody is wired the same.

Answer 8

I don't necessarily believe in ghosts but my son who is now 17 told me(and it wasn't easy for him to tell me) saw people walking around his room at night when he was in bed. He use to crawl out of his room and try to get into my room by crawling up close to my bed without us seeing him because he was afraid his dad would get mad if he saw him. I finally got him to tell me why he wanted to sleep anywhere but there. He also had an older brother in the room who would stay sound asleep. After this and after we moved it never happened again. my son is the opposite of an attention seeker. And he got plenty of attention being my youngest. As of today he has not seen or heard anything that wasn't there. He has no mental illness and there is no mental illnesses in our family. I don't know it just makes you think. Reading this reminded me of that is all and thought I would mention my son. I would have done more if more happened or if as he got older there was other things but there wasn't. I don't think it's time necessarily to rush off to a Psychiatrist or make a huge deal out of it. Not until you know a little bit more anyway. Just watch him close. Talk to him. Look for other indicators that he might have the beginnings of a mental illness or of something else that could be wrong. Make sure he is telling you the truth. As someone else mentioned it could be about attention whether he sees something or not. I personally would have a talk with the family especially if you think it is for real and he is really stressed about it. But other than that doing something drastic might be the wrong thing to do at the moment because that could also cause a lot of stress for him. He is a pre-teen which is a little more worrisome than my son who was only 6 at the time. But still I personally would find out a little more from him and have a little talk with the parents about keeping an eye out on him as well as how to talk to him better so he feels validated.

Answer 9

Angel, you are so kind and caring,this young boy needs help and you cannot help him...and its very frustrating for you,he needs to see a psychiatrist who specializes in young children..your friend tells you he has visual hallucinations this is NOT from being bipolar..if he has bipolar his meds need to be taken properly and with adult supervision.he needs to be reevaluated and properly diagnosed by a competent doctor of psychiatric medicine.from what you are telling me this child was told he is bipolar by whom....if he has mental illness and the parents are not getting him help..this needs to be reported ..start with his school nurse and he needs to tell her EVERYTHING she will help him ..the psychology teacher is wrong leave her out of this..he needs to see that school nurse tomorrow.

Answer 10

Not typical but there is a small % of bipolar that go to psychotic bipolar. GETHIM HELP!!! i'm sure he has a psychiatrist so encourage his parents to get him evaluated. is he frightened by this ghost girl?? is she threstening to him? a lot of people who have this the "ghost" tell them they bad things that could lead to self harm.
before you take drastic steps, make sure the boy is not making this up for attention. it may be withdraw, imagination, or something else other than psychosis. i hope for the best with him and i hop he is a success in his life.

Peace&hope