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Bipolar Kids - Helping Your Child Find Calm in the Mood Storm

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Feb 28, 2007 - 10:08:26 AM

(HealthNewsDigest.com) - In recent years, childhood mental health has become a national issue, with major attention being paid to ADHD and autism in particular. But there’s another condition on the horizon—one that is starting to reach epidemic proportions even though we’re barely talking about it.

Once thought to only affect adults, bipolar disorder (a.k.a. manic depression) is the fastest growing category in child psychiatry, with an estimated one million children battling the illness. Often unrecognizable in children for years or misdiagnosed as ADHD and OCD, the medical profession is only just beginning to understand how it manifests itself in the young, and how to decipher the best form of treatment. Rosalie Greenberg, M.D., a child psychiatrist with twenty-five years of clinical experience, brings us a comprehensive parents’ guide to understanding the disorder in Bipolar Kids.

Like most BP kids, Dr. Greenberg’s patients—whose stories are woven throughout this book—have spent years being misunderstood by family members, teachers, neighbors, peers, and even therapists and doctors. Their moms and dads have struggled too. Parents of bipolar kids are often negatively judged for their child’s uncontrollable actions and tend to be too hard on themselves, placing the blame on their raising techniques rather than on the biology that has affected their child’s brain. Dr. Greenberg incorporates their voices as well.

Dr. Greenberg has spent countless hours listening to bipolar kids about the challenges they face, and in her book she emphasizes the need to pay careful attention to their words. Oftentimes, they’re more in-tune with how they feel than adults realize, and are able to express themselves in a manner that can lead to a more targeted, more effective treatment plan. The book also walks parents through many day-to-day scenarios that occur with BP kids, helping moms and dads learn to identify the triggers for manic episodes; better communicate with their child and monitor their child’s moods; decide, with doctors, on the right pharmacological interventions if any; and devise day-to-day strategies for supporting their kids in school and at home.

Offering hope and practical advice, Bipolar Kids is a first-of-its-kind resource for anyone who cares for a child with BP.

Rosalie Greenberg, M.D., is a board-certified child, adolescent, and adult psychiatrist specializing in the treatment of childhood mood disorders and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. An assistant professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, she maintains a private practice in child psychiatry in Summit, New Jersey. She was a founding member and former president of the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation and was named one of the top doctors in the New York metropolitan area by New York Magazine in 2005 and 2006. Dr. Greenberg lives in Montclair, New Jersey, with her husband and two children.

March 1, 2007 Hardcover ISBN-13: 978-0-7382-1080-3
294 Pages $26.00 Parenting/Psychology
 
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