I can only speak for children, but my answer is no. Bipolar children do not have the ability to calm themselves without medication. If it were not for medication, most of these kids would be in a mental institution or a juvenile detention facility...or worse, dead. Bipolar disorder is a fucking horrible thing. Drugs allow a child a semi-normal life that would otherwise be hell.
I'm sorry to hear your child suffers from that. Were they prescribed lithium? My main focus of skepticism are on the antidepressants and anti anxiety medications. I consider antipsychotic medication treatments in the classification of chemical imbalance or neurostructural issues.
If your child does take antidepressant or antianxiety meds -- are there noticeable improvements/benefits? From my experience the side effects seem to destroy the person and make them almost robotic. Have you tried teaching you child any non-medical coping techniques and strategies for manic/depressive episodes? Do any work?
Yes, it's lithium. It's also going to destroy his liver by the time he reaches 60...but I'm mostly concerned that he reaches 60. Without the lithium, he's a literal monster. Hateful, angry, venomous...scary as fuck tbh.
Every year for the past 6 years we have tried to change his medication over the holiday season (Thanksgiving through January). Every year we've done that has been a nightmare. He literally is capable of killing off his medication. On it, he's the sweetest child in the world. He loves animals, babies, smiles, is the most helpful and kind person in the world and he enjoys his life. His medication levels are low, so it's a fine balance of adding more as he grows, but all the signs are there when he's outgrown it...so no, he's never robotic...he was when we have tried other medications, but not the lithium.
My hope is we can get him to adulthood and he can find new ways to cope...but without his medications right now, I honestly do not think he would make it to 15.
It's a nightmare...it's sad. It's a horrible existence for him. My only goal is to help him grow into adulthood and pray he has learned enough at that point to succeed in medicating himself or finding an alternative that works for him.
He's my stepson. His father and father's family have severe bipolar disorder on their side of the family and they've all made it to adulthood, so there is hope for him. It's severe enough that it almost made me walk away from the situation entirely...but it's also a challenge that I know God gave me to deal with because he believes I can.
Bipolar disorder is fucked up...it can make the nicest person you could ever know, a fucking monster that you can't believe exists. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
Note to guys thinking of getting married and having children -- check the woman out for hereditary mental problems first. Two things you don't want, a pound dog, and a woman with a history of mental illness.
The problem with this is that they are on drugs for the rest of their life and if they miss their meds or they build up too big of a tolerance then sometimes they snap and shoot up a school or, if society is lucky, commit suicide without taking anyone else with them. And if they do make it through life then they get to breed and society now ends up with even more mentally unbalanced people.
Not all, but most of these behavioral issues can be treated with a good ass kicking by loving but responsible parents that want to raise good kids and not try to be their friends. Parents that run the house and make the decisions and not the kids.
I firmly believe 95-99% of people on these pharmaceuticals don't need to be.
I agree basically with everything you say. However, I would say the actual amount of people that need medication is closer to 20%.
I really dislike the eugenics argument but nature is a fucking cunt and doesn't five a fuck about feelings. As our society becomes more medically advanced people who suffer form these diseases who would have died in the past are living longer and thus reproducing, creating more of them.
Ok, it might be a bit more than 2-5% but I wouldn't go higher then your 20% definitely. I do firmly believe that, as the tile suggests, meditation, mindfulness, even some good therapy can cure most issues.
Yeah, nature, or life, really does suck and is quite uncaring. The religious will claim this is our test or we are in purgatory or something like that. Me, I think it is simply just probabilities.
I used to think the same thing...it's just bad parenting, but that simply isn't the case. This is a mental disorder, not behavioral. And you misunderstand this type of child...there are no friends. They can't maintain friendships and they are considered "odd" by the rest of the school.
With a lot of kids it is bad parenting. And sometimes even good parents that just didn't make sure their children grew up from a young age playing and socializing with others their age as well as adults. They are odd because they were raised by a TV. They are odd because they never learned how to socialize the traditional ways. They are odd because their only interactions are with their single mother, for example.
Not all of course. Some it is a serious brain chemical imbalance.
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