Word: manic
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...scientists are making progress against the disease. Genetic researchers are combing through gene after gene on chromosomes that appear to be related to the condition and may offer targets for drug development. Pharmacologists are perfecting combinations of new drugs that are increasingly capable of leveling the manic peaks and lifting the disabling lows. Behavioral and cognitive psychologists are developing new therapies and family-based programs that get the derailed brain back on track and keep it there. "We did a good job for a long time of putting a lid on [the disorder]," says Dr. Paul Keck, vice chairman...
...bipolar disorder, there is also a manic phase. It usually begins with a sort of caffeinated, can-do buzz. "Sometimes the patients find the highs pleasant," says Dr. Joseph Calabrese, director of the mood-disorders program at Case Western University in Cleveland. As the emotional engine revs higher, however, that energy can become too much. Bipolars quickly grow aggressive and impulsive. They become grandiose, picking fights, driving too fast, engaging in indiscriminate sex, spending money wildly. They may ultimately become delusionally...
...that, when the disorder does appear in a child, the diagnosis is often wrong. ADHD is the likeliest first call, if only because some of the manic symptoms fit. The treatment of choice for ADHD is Ritalin, a stimulant that has the paradoxical ability to calm overactive kids. But giving Ritalin to a bipolar child can deepen an existing cycle or trigger one anew. Brandon Kent, a 9-year-old from La Vernia, Texas, in whom ADHD was diagnosed in kindergarten (they did not yet know he was bipolar), took Ritalin and paid the price. "It sent him into depression...
...this reason, parents of bipolar kids are urged to enforce sleep schedules firmly and consistently. Bedtime must mean bedtime, and morning must mean morning. While that can be hard when an actively manic child is still throwing a tantrum two hours after lights-out, a combination of mood-stabilizing drugs and an enforced routine may even bring some of the most symptomatic kids into line. Teens, who are expected to do a lot more self-policing than younger children, must take more of this responsibility on themselves, even if that means a no-excuses adherence to a no-exceptions curfew...
...most important thing parents and siblings can do is simply to serve as the eyes and ears of the bipolar child. A teen in a depression can't see the hope beyond the gloom. A child in a manic cycle can't see the quiet reality behind the giddiness. It's up to people whose compasses are more reliably functioning to step in and point the way. Says Dr. Gary Sachs, director of the Bipolar Treatment Center at Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital and principal investigator for the STEP-BD project: "Treatment is modeled on Homer's Odyssey. When Odysseus...