Childhood bipolar is a disorder that mainly occurs in children. These children are characterized by periodical and abrupt mood swings, periodical hyperactivity which can also be followed by very intense temper tantrums which in most cases lead to deviant behaviors. All these behaviors can be seen in these children within a very short period of time many a times leading to misunderstanding of these children (Fristad & Arnold 23). Peace may become a vocabulary to his children because they never seem to look settled and if they do, these periods last for just a short time. This is a problem that needs to be taken not of and addressed because it does affect the life of a child suffering from it. Some aspects of life that get disrupted include a child’s social life, psychological life and even their physical environment.
The social life of these children is always dotted with anger and anxiety issues. They cannot easily make friends because almost all the time they are angry at everyone. Even those few friends they make fails to understand them because they are equally too young to know what normally happens with them. Apart from these, their irritability cannot allow hem mingle easily with the rest of the members of the family and people from outside. To add on to this, their anxiety and hyperactivity does not go unnoticed. Whenever their immediate caregivers are not around them, they become very intolerable (Fristad, Arnold & Leffler 67). These children find it very difficult to cope with the environment more so in the absence of those people who understand them. It is also very difficult to handle them because they are very unpredictable. A school setting or anywhere outside the home becomes particularly inhabitable for these children and this call for special attention in order to contain them.
Many of these children are highly gifted but the only problem they have is that they do not know how well to transit from one situation to the other. Most of them are perfectionists who may not want to move onto something else before they achieve an anticipated result. Even so, they have cognitive difficulties which even make it harder for them to accomplish complex tasks. This makes it a little bit complicated in their quest to acquire knowledge and adjusting to the competitive academic world.
In trying to understand this condition from a biophysical point of view, the idea of diathesis stress hypothesis tries to explain the fact that it is caused by the effect of predispositions or a kind of vulnerability which a child may have (Fristad, Arnold & Leffler 108). This means that some children are more susceptible to this condition that others and therefore end up having the condition. For a number of reasons, their genetics and even experience trigger their senses into frenzy and at the end of the day; they end up developing some characteristics that make them display these kinds of behavior. When children are exposed to sufficient stress at a certain point in their lives, chances are that the bipolar disorder is activated and accelerated and this leads to it starting. The stresses the child experiences will be the trigger and will be enough to provoke a kind of weakness towards bipolar disorder.
The social life of a child or family also contributes much in the development of bipolar in children. The social causation hypothesis explains this phenomenon by stating that conditions of life which are associated with low socioeconomic status of a family or child to a huge extent increases the risk of a child suffering from bipolar disorder. This in essence means that the kind of life that a child is subjected to plays a major role in determining the outcome of a child in regard to behavior. When a child becomes impulsive restless and even goofy because of problems at home, chances are that they become a culprit of bipolar disorder.
Children with bipolar can get help outside of their families. His is the point where medics, psychologists, therapists and even social workers come in handy. This is so because with trained specialists, one can be sure that the problem will be well attended to. Social workers in many cases have an upper hand in detecting and handling various problems that these children exhibit. When called in early, the social worker will even help the family cope with the child in a proper and understanding manner.
Children with bipolar disorder need understanding, care, attention and treatment. A specialized person can guide the caregivers on the appropriate way of handling these children because they are always considered special (Fristad & Arnold 142). Sometimes they may exhibit extreme behaviors but knowing the best mechanisms with which to cool them down is good enough because then, they can easily be accommodated in and outside home. Their needs have got to be met in order for them to function well in society.
Works cited
Fristad, Mary & Arnold, Jill. Raising a Moody Child: How to Cope with Depression and Bipolar Disorder: A Book for Parents. New York: Guilford. 2003
Fristad, Mary, Arnold, Jill & Leffler, Jarrod. Psychotherapy for Children with Bipolar and Depressive Disorders. New York: Guilford Press. 2011
Somer, Diler. Pediatric Bipolar Disorder: A Global Perspective. New York; Nova Publishers. 2007
