Replies to '08/01 Extreme Highs and Lows'

Hi Victoria, 

Thank you for your response. I can't imagine having this illness as a child. To have it sometimes feels like someone has the remote control to your mind and is changing the channel at a rapid rate. It happens so fast and your thoughts fragment and twist off in every direction. I can't imagine how frightening and confusing that must be for a child. 

Can he articulate to you how he is feeling? An advantage I have as an adult is I can observe the thought patterns and the different types of feelings and react, learning all the time about the illness and how to combat it. Plus I can explain it to my psychiatrist. My psychiatrist and psychologist are awesome. It's great that you have great professionals working with your son. 

I think bipolar disorder mimics ADHD for a lot of people. That's because the disorder makes it difficult to concentrate. They thought I had the same dual diagnosis for a while, but it turned out to be just the bipolar disorder. I'm not saying that your son's diagnosis isn't correct at all, I'm just saying that the two illness are similar in a way. 

I respect Dr. Phil and I don't think he would sensationalize the illness, but the intro on this site concerned me which is why I wrote what I did. It is a tremendous responsibility to do a show like this and it isn't often that the illness gets this kind of exposure. 

You take care as well and I will write a follow-up after the show.