{"id":337,"date":"2012-11-10T05:05:54","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T13:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/2008\/08\/20\/teenage-bipolar-disorder-a-quick-tip-for-parents\/"},"modified":"2018-05-15T09:58:18","modified_gmt":"2018-05-15T16:58:18","slug":"how-do-i-know-the-difference-between-teenage-behavior-and-teenage-bipolar-disorder-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/how-do-i-know-the-difference-between-teenage-behavior-and-teenage-bipolar-disorder-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"How do I know the difference between teenage behavior and teenage bipolar disorder behavior?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Is it possible for me to know the difference?<\/p>\n

It can be difficult, but it\u2019s not impossible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about degrees- typical teens and bipolar teens act in similar ways, but not with the same intensity. And bipolar disorder behavior is ALWAYS out of sync with events.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, a typical teen who is angry may yell at you and run to their room and slam the door. A\u00a0 teen with bipolar disorder may yell, try to hit you and then run out of the house and not come back for hours.<\/p>\n

Another very important distinction- typical teens tend to calm down and go back to ‘normal’ once they have let you know how they feel. Teens with bipolar disorder can stay in certain upsetting moods for much, much\u00a0longer.<\/p>\n

A typical teen gets excited about life. A teen with bipolar disorder\u00a0who is manic goes over the top with emotions the point of impulsive and dangerous behaviors.<\/p>\n

Remember: It\u2019s not only the behavior. It’s the intensity of the behavior.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Why is it harder for teenagers to manage bipolar disorder?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Adults with bipolar disorder have the same dichotomy of course- but we have more ability to recognize and change the extremes. For teenagers it’s all so new!\u00a0Teens have\u00a0to deal with first time emotions such as falling in love or studying for an exam and they don’t know what to do when the bipolar disorder takes over. There is little reference as to what is ‘normal.’\u00a0 This makes it hard for\u00a0teens to see they are having trouble- so their blame\u00a0may go\u00a0towards the parents or internally with suicidal thoughts.<\/p>\n

On the other side, parents are usually confused because teens are notorious for being moody. No wonder it’s hard to tell what’s what! All of the parents I work with have this problem. It’s universal for teens with bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

**<\/p>\n

As a parent, you are amazing and you do your best.\u00a0 My biggest tip is to look for behavior that is out of proportion to an event and then work on recognizing and stopping the behavior- this is the best place to start on your journey of helping your teenager manage their\u00a0 bipolar disorder.<\/p>\n

Julie<\/p>\n

PS: My book section describes my Health Cards Treatment System for Bipolar Disorder.<\/em> This is an exceptionally good tool for teens and parents. Regarding my books, I think that Bipolar Happens!<\/em> is the best for teens while Take Charge of Bipolar Disorder<\/em> really helps parents understand the illness. Bipolar Happens!<\/em> is available on the Kindle for .99 and can be read on any device- including phones.\u00a0 I know that’s where teens read these days!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Is it possible for me to know the difference?<\/p>\n

It can be difficult, but it\u2019s not impossible.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all about degrees- typical teens and bipolar teens act in similar ways, but not with the same intensity. And bipolar disorder behavior is ALWAYS out of sync with events.<\/p>\n

For example, a typical teen who is angry may yell at you and run to their room and slam the door. A teen with bipolar disorder may yell, try to hit you and then run out of the house and not come back for hours.<\/p>\n

Another very important distinction- typical teens tend to calm down and go back to ‘normal’ once they have let you know how they feel. Teens with bipolar disorder can stay in certain upsetting moods for much, much longer.<\/p>\n

[ Read More ]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11440,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/11440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bipolarhappens.com\/bhblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}