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[quote=Anonymous]Some other great books to read on bipolar -- not necessarily teen-specific, but still really helpful -- "I'm not sick, I don't need help" by Xavier Amador.  Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families by Francis Mondimore (who has also written a book on adolescent depression which includes bipolar depression).  Similar types of guides have also been written by E. Fuller Torey and David Miklowitz, each leaders in the field for different reasons.  For personal experiences, read Kay Redfield Jamison's, "An Unquiet Mind" which will also give you hope that a bipolar person can be highly functional.

We are lucky that we live in a major urban area where good treatment for bipolar is available.  Look for a psychiatrist who specializes in mood disorders, more specifically bipolar if possible.  Look for a PhD clinical psychologist also specializing in mood disorders for weekly therapy.  (I don't recommend PsyDs or therapists who are LICSW or MSWs or other non-PhDs, they simply don't have enough experience or clinical/medical training to offer appropriate support.)  Major university hospital systems are often good sources of treating doctors because they usually accept a lot of different insurances.  John Hopkins is a national leader in the mood disorder treatment field.  Georgetown also has a good program, I've heard.

BTW, the questions the psych's offices asks on the phone are probably only about more serious behaviors, not because those serious behaviors define the illness, but because these more serious symptoms are indicators that the patient seeking an appointment can't safely wait the several weeks it may take to get an appointment.  A responsible psychiatrist doesn't want to be liable for missing these serious symptoms and thus becoming liable for a negative incident that happens during the wait for the appointment to roll around.

Also, don't let the lack of presence of these serious symptoms undermine the value of what the school is saying to you by making the recommendation for a psych referral.  School counselors see zillions of kids, if they are suggesting this, then they are telling you that the behavior is NOT "normal" teenage behavior -- not even the kind stupid and risky behavior that is normal for teens.  I can tell you, as the parent of a child with an IEP (for a learning disability that presented with some anxiety), that it takes  a LOT for a school system to admit there is a problem, because admitting there is a problem often means that the school system has to provide (by law) accommodations and special instruction which basically costs them money.  If your child is ultimately diagnosed and put on medications, she will likely qualify for at a minimum a 504 plan to provide accommodations and support for her emotional/behavioral problems at school and to mitigate any effects of medication which make school harder (sleepiness, anxiety, slow thinking, nausea, etc. are possibilities).  [/quote]

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