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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]OP, I’m so sorry you’re dealing with this. Whatever it is, it sounds like a cognition problem (at least somewhat outside of her control), rather than a character problem (completely within her control). Your instincts are right; she’ll probably need extra help and support to optimize her emotional control. If you aren’t already in a waitlist for a complete neuropsych, I’d start there. You’ll want everything. It will cost thousands.

The good news is that you’re dealing with this in the golden age of neuroscience. There are so many new therapies out there that aren’t mainstream yet, but are being studied. If it were my child, I’d take the time spent waiting for a neuropsych to start reading any new book related to the brain. You might consider scheduling neurofeedback to start right after you get the testing results, with the caveat that it’s an art and the skill of the practitioner matters. Keep in mind that you’ll lose the legal authority to talk to her clinicians in just a few short years. You need to really push the timeline and be open to doing multiple therapies at once, especially during the summers. Do you have local friends or family who can drive her to appointments if you work?[/quote]

Neurofeedback isn't an appropriate therapy for mental health disorders like bipolar, depression, or schizophrenia.

OP, if you are working with a psychiatrist, it is reasonable to ask about a bipolar diagnosis.  Hypomanic would be bipolar 2 while florid mania (thinking completely irrational kind of mania) would be bipolar 1.  My exH and his Mom were both bipolar 2, which can be hard to diagnose because the hypomania is often normalized as a reaction to a situation.  FWIW, his mom used to have depression with catatonia as an aspect of her bipolar, but not everyone with bipolar does.  One of her family members once explained to see that the catatonia was considered a form of psychosis, which I didn't know, and anti-psychotics are sometimes prescribed for bipolar patients.

What is your interaction with her psychiatrist?  Do all of you -- parents and kids get to report on mood?  What often happens with bipolar patients is that they are unable to recognize their own mood states and accurately report on them to the prescriber.  So, a psychiatrist will often miss the mania, especially hypomania, because it is reported as a normal state when the patient is "fine" or "at their best".

NAMI runs a good class called NAMI Basics for family members with a child who has mental illness, and they also run good support groups, which is a good way to compare notes with similarly situated parents.  
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