Bipolar Disorder

How Bipolar Disorder Effects Adolescents in School

Axia College

A multitude of reasons exist why adolescents and children have problems in school varying from difficulty with learning disabilities, inadequate resources, skill levels, large classes, problems at home , time management skills, and bullying, just to name a few. The list can go on and be personalized to each scholar differently because each scholar is an individual with different needs, strengths, goals, and issues. Sometimes these obstacles come from a mental illness that is not yet known in the scholar and can make school virtually unbearable because of the disease’s side effects. Children and adolescents with Bipolar Disorder face a continuous struggle to succeed in the classroom because of the side effects and symptoms they often experience on a day to day basis.

According to the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (2002) “Bipolar disorder (also known as manic-depression) is a severe but treatable medical illness. It is a disorder of the brain marked by tremendous changes in behavior, and mood. Symptoms may be there since infancy or even early childhood, or may unexpectedly emerge in adolescence or even adulthood.” Bipolar Disorder is more and more becoming ordinary in children, and doctors are now able to make a diagnosis about the disorder sooner and sooner in a child’s life; however, how ordinary the disorder is in children is still mysterious because of the lack of research and substantiation. Another hurdle to surmount in order to make a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder in children and adolescents is to find out what type and severity of the disorder they might have. There are different types of Bipolar Disorder, such as Bipolar I, Bipolar II, Cyclothemia, Mixed Moods, and Bipolar Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (NOS) where the doctor cannot conclude what type of the disorder the child falls in to.

Even with the varied types of Bipolar Disorder, the symptoms...