Where Do WE need To Focus?

I have a son and a daughter who have bipolar disorder. Most people over 30 would know this illness as manic depression. Brain disorders are the new politically correct term for what most people term mental illness. Most mental illnesses are caused by chemical imbalances in the brain. Until about 15 years ago, it was usually assumed that mental illness was only found in adults.

Some of the illnesses that fall in this category are:
Anorexia nervosa
Anxiety disorder
ADHD
Autism/Asperger's
Bipolar disorder
Borderline personality disorder
Bulimia nervosa
Depression
Dissociative disorders
Eating disorders
Substance abuse
Obsessive compulsive disorde
rPanic disorder
Personality disorders
Post-traumatic stress disorder
Seasonal affective disorder
Schizophrenia
Sleep disorders
Suicide
Tourette syndrome

Some of you may be surprised to see some items that maybe a family member or even yourself is being treated for or has been treated for in the past. Mental illness does not just apply to those who require hospitalization and mental illness is not synonymous with insanity. Mental illness is a brain disorder. And many times it is genetic.

Many comments made about some of the kids involved in the shootings occurring in our schools would lean heavily in pointing that these children possibly have brain disorders. While I never rule out the possibility of evil in this world, most people who are normal do not want to stay in trouble or cause trouble. So if you have a child who is troubled, why aren't more people asking WHY is that kid troubled?

And the point that most people get picked on is an excellent one. If you have control of your faculties, you get mad, your feelings get hurt, but you don't run off and shoot up the world. So why aren't these kids being seen as having a problem and being helped?

Today, doctors are even behind on what brain disorders are, what the symptoms can be and MOST are very slow if they don't actually refuse to diagnose these symptoms in teens and young children. However, children are showing symptoms of brain disorders as early as one year old which sounds unbelievable until you actually get to sit and work and talk with the child.

Many factors can bring these illnesses to a peak at an earlier age - hormones in food, allergies, stress or a combination of things.

Due to the stigma that still attaches mental illness, many people refuse to address the possibility of this problem in their own child. Many people are ignorant as to what brain disorders are and what to look for. This is directly related to stigma and people not talking about their illnesses, etc.

Most great authors studied in school today suffered from bipolar disorder:
Poe
Emerson
Hemingway
Keats
Fitzgerald
Shakespeare.. the list goes on I

t is thought that both Churchill AND Hitler had brain disorders.

Many of today's actors and athletes have some type of brain disorder, one even being on the Dallas Cowboys ( I forget his name) Patty Duke, Robert Downey, Jr. Ned Beatty, Dick Cavett, Jonathan Winters, Linda Hamilton are just a few of the celebrities that have bipolar disorder.

And in case you did not know - the trendy disease of the day - clinical depression - is a brain disorder. So many of you may have a history of brain disorders in your family and did not know it.

Before you take the high road, blaming the parents for not seeing these kids have a problem and asking why they aren't getting help, let me share two points with you.
1) It took me almost 10 years to get an accurate diagnosis for my son. I was told things like, there was nothing wrong, I worried too much, to I have created stress in my child through divorce and the death of my husband, to he was just high strung, to there is nothing wrong with your son, just take him home and encourage him, he's a genius. (He does have a high IQ... that does not explain him trying to shoot a hole in the floor)

2) Schools and teachers are legally obligated to suggest that any child who shows any type of social or learning problems be tested for learning disabilities, ADD, etc and the school district, run by our tax money is supposed to pay it. However, many schools do not educate their staff about this law or if they do, discourage that testing be done as they need the funds for other things.

So while I hate agreeing with the person who said this, I do agree, that on many levels, it does take a village to raise a child.

I am very committed to the education of the public and to the helping of the kids, so much so that I have started a non profit group and I facilitate support groups in the Dallas area for the KIDS. I found plenty of support for the parents when we started this walk, but none for my son. So, not being anything but a mother who loved her son and a person who could read, I plunged in head first.

What I found is that most of the kids have the same problems discussed in the paper about the kids that do the shootings- they are social outcasts, they are angry and no one knows why. They aren't really in a lot of Trouble, but then again their lives don't seem all that right either.

I hope this helps someone who reads this to have a better understanding and if you see a child in your family or group of friends that you think may have a problem, please help them to find the help they need.

The guns and the cars and everything else will take care of themselves if we can help the children get the medical treatment they need, and then teach them life skills and how to be active in their own medical recovery.

Thank you for allowing me to share this with you.