Where to find help for a bipolar child?

Question

ok, heres the story. My friend has a daughter that is out of control. she is 8 years old and is beyond being ill behaved. Her behavior is connected to being bipolar. She screams profanity, says things like shes going to kill my friend with a knife, etc... My friend is a 47 year old single mother and is just in tears everyday. The school complains about her and say they cant teach her. She went to a hopital and they put her daughter on so much medication that she was scared. Shes afraid to commit her to a mental intitution or something like it because she may not get her back, but in the meantime she worries about her own safety, and her childs. There has got to be some kind of help out there for her besides drugging her child up! where can she contact to get real help, and not have to commit her permanatly?

Answer 1

Bipolar disorder is something that NEEDS medication!!! No buts about it..If she is this affected by it and this out of control on a daily basis she needs help...The doctors aren't going to give her so many meds that she O.D's or something they know what they are doing..Tell your friend to take her child to a psychiatrist and for her to tell the doc she doesn't want her child medicated to the point she acts like a piece of cardboard.....This child needs help...How many good childhood memories will she possibly have if she feels this way everyday???? I have depression and PTSD and I wish I had got help along time ago...I feel as if I wasted a year and a half of my life simply by not getting the help I knew I needed..
I know two people with bipolar disorder and each are affected differently...One is now a drug addict that still lives with his mother and hardly ever leaves his house...Some days he is happy, energetic, others he wants to kill himself..He has been diagnosed but doesn't want to face the fact he really has a mental disorder and refuses to take the meds.. The other person takes his meds ( and stays on them ) and is living a normal life....So ask your friend what path she wants her daughter to take...The suicidal, drug addicted path, or the normal one filled with happiness?

Answer 2

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AmCGAtttukjRqP61pSIoYgrsy6IX?qid=20070404182349AAJVE0i

I am sharing this question with you because I don't know if you have seen it yet, psychiatry is controversial. No child deserves to be labeled just for throwing temper tantrums.

You say this: "My friend has a daughter that is out of control. she is 8 years old and is beyond being ill behaved. Her behavior is connected to being bipolar."

This behavior may more then likely be because of the way her mom has been raising her.

You say this, "She screams profanity, says things like shes going to kill my friend with a knife, etc... My friend is a 47 year old single mother and is just in tears everyday." It sounds like this woman is overloaded to be able to deal with her little girl and there is one thing if this little girl is saying this to get attention from her mom that she may desperately need or if she is meaning it and if she is where does all the anger come from what is possibly being done to her to make her so upset with her mom that she would say this? Has she heard this from someplace else and what is that source? I see this as being more the mom then this kid, but why are you posting this, is it really anything to you?

"The school complains about her and say they cant teach her."

If this was my child someone would be teaching it or I would be homeschooling it. If my kid needed extra help I would get this help for them or see to it that they got it, maybe there is a student at a local college that would not mind spending time volunteering for extra credit to do some tutoring with this child. This person preferably a female might be able to be a great influence on this little girl?

"She went to a hopital"

who is she the mom or the daughter?

"and they put her daughter on so much medication that she was scared. Shes afraid to commit her to a mental intitution or something like it because she may not get her back, but in the meantime she worries about her own safety, and her childs. There has got to be some kind of help out there for her besides drugging her child up! where can she contact to get real help, and not have to commit her permanatly?"

That is a good question, she needs to contact this little girls dad and talk with him about this since it is this kind of a problem now, perhaps he might want to take the little girl for a while? If she doesn't want to do this she needs to look in her phone book and see what the real resources in her community? You maybe need to stay out of it? Do you think that you can do that? You may be contributing to this problem? The mom can not devote the attention to you that you need and give her child the real attention that it seems to be needing, if you are her friend you won't try to make her divide her time like that right now. You will stay out of it and let them settle it.

Answer 3

That is indeed quite a predicament, I was diagnosed with Bipolar disorder type II at 17 so I can't quite comment about young ages. Sounds like the girl is confused and hurt, and does not have the emotional maturity or ability to cope with the problems. However, I have been diagnosed with high-functioning Autism from a small age, I remember two encounters with two other autistic children in a local support group who wouldn't think twice about strangling other children or threatening others with knives. I suspect you need to get a second and third evaluation, you have the quite type of autistic children who are none threatening and on the other extreme you have the low functioning who always seem to be in tantrums. This maybe mistaken for bipolar disorder, which is why you need a second and third opinion. If all else fails, I recommend 5-HTP instead of drugs to help build natural serotonin pathways before puberty.

Answer 4

Bipolar disorder can be so extreme that the affected person may in fact need fulltime care at least for some periods of time, or they may hurt themselves or others. I am sorry to say this and I'm not trying to be cold-hearted. If she's only 8 years old and already so out of control that she's literally frightening people, then medication and residential care might be her only chance. Your friend should make every effort to do as much research as possible and get a doctor to work with them whom she feels is very up to date with treatment options and who shows a real compassion and interest in them. There are no realiable remedies that are based on home therapies or simple counseling. It's a serious mental illness. God bless I wish the best for the child.

Answer 5

Unfortunately there is not to much out there for this.
She can contact the state and tell them her problem.They will have to admit her, until the medications are under control and they usually put these people into a facility then a group home.This will be great for sometime and then out of nowhere she will get worse again. This is because these people feel that they are cured and go off the meds. and bing back to square one.
it is a grim life in the bad parts with some rays of sunshine
The state will take over the care of this person and hopefully she will do great!
Tell your friend that the best book (to me) that is explaining this type of behavior and person is
A Danielle Steel (not novel ) called "His Bright Light'
It is the TRUE story of her child that suffered from this.
She has seven kids altogether.It only effected this one. It explains the disease/meds/life of these people in a way so that everyone has a better under standing of what's really going on.
It is NOT a good idea to have her at the home now . Wait untill the state lets her have a day at home/weekend
this is really the best way to go............hard but best
I wish her all the luck in the world and God blees her and her family

Answer 6

The best answer would be from a Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist...
help your friend find one and encourage her to make an appt for her child to be assessed and put on the right medication. Also she may want to be assessed as well... her child may have got this disorder from either her's or the child's father's family genes. Is anyone else in the family diagnosed with Bipolar? Seek out a mental health center for additional help and resources...

Answer 7

I've been through this. Have your friend call her county department of human services child protective services unit. Ignore the stigma about them- they are actually very helpful and have amazing resources for this kind of situation. They do a case that's Out of Control of Parent, and it seems scary, but they can get her into the right place, get her stabilized, and get her home. It may take being placed for a few months to find the right medication for her with the fewest side effects, but it will be worth it to get her daughter home in a state that's more calm and serene. It's really hard, feeling like a failure as a mom, and sometimes I can feel so hurt by my daughter's behavior, but at the same time feeling my daughters pain, because she's not very comfortable in her own skin right now either. But they really can help bring back some stability to their lives. Email me and I will be happy to talk her through some of the resources that I have found. Tell her I'm so sorry that she's going through this. It really does suck! But it can be better.

Answer 8

It's unfortunate that her daughter didn't get help when she was little, but it's never too late. There are ways of dealing with situations and problems that are different with autistic children. I suggest looking through the yellow pages (probably a larger city) or online yellow pages for therapists that help children with behavior. They understand these children and know how to teach the parents as well with dealing with the child appropriately. She may need special teachers. I believe there is state aid available for these situations too if money is the issue. Good luck. I'll keep your friend and her daughter in my prayers.

Answer 9

Wow how painful this might want to be. regrettably, your brother appears to be like a hazard on your little ones. As a verify you may want to guard your little ones, notwithstanding a lot it hurts to distance your self out of your brother. you opt to describe on your father and mother that you do not sense your little ones are secure using his habit. perhaps after your brother is dealt with he will have the capacity to hitch your relations. certain, he's unwell yet that's no longer an excuse might want to some thing severe happen. What excuse would take delivery of might want to he extremely damage someone. He habit desires to be addressed now at the same time as he's youthful. It might want to be lower than pressure actual contact and throwing issues is only no longer tolerated. many human beings have led effective lives with ADHD and bipolar. It probable does no longer damage to have a lengthy communicate with a counselor, and are available across a thanks to refer on your little ones about your brother. you do not opt to scare them yet mutually in the journey that they're going to be round him they opt to be conscious. it will be good to come across a help team that you and your father and mother can attend. that's critical that you comprehend your emotions are frequent and also you've were given a ideal to them. it is a lengthy highway your relations is embarking on and there is not any person-friendly fix. good success.

Answer 10

She should maybe try Risperdal or Concerta
here are some good likes for her to try also
http://www.bpinfo.net/
http://groups.msn.com/TheBipolarChild/factsheet.msnw?pgmarket=en-us
http://concernedcounseling.com/communities/bipolar/children_5.asp

Also remember to tell her support and love is the most important part. Perhaps she should start a school like reward program with tokens as a reward then traded for toys and candy when appropriate behavior happens. Best of luck! :)