If Your Adolescent Has Bipolar Disorder

The authoritative guide to understanding and helping a teenager with bipolar disorder.While coping with teenage moodiness can be difficult under any circumstances, it can be especially challenging if a teenager has a serious mood disorder. This concise, readable book is the definitive guide to understanding and getting effective help for adolescents with bipolar disorder, designed for parents and other adults in contact with afflicted teens. It combines the most current scientific expertise available today--including the newest treatments and medications and the latest research findings on bipolar disorder--with no-nonsense, hands-on advice from parents who have faced this mood disorder in their own children. Among other topics, the book addresses the roots of bipolar disorder, red flags to look out for, treatment options for young people, and practical strategies for helping a teen cope at home and at school. It concludes on a hopeful note, by reviewing the latest scientific evidence on treating this mood disorder. A growing body of research now shows that early diagnosis and treatment of bipolar disorder may reduce the severity of the disease, both now and in the future. Including chapters on sex, drugs, and social media, and life after high school, this book will provide the information and tools parents need to help adolescents achieve the best possible outcome.