Anyone else raising teens with Bi-polar disorder?

[PoppyMama]

When my daughter hit puberty and her mental state started unraveling I was thrown in to this whole new parenting situation that I was never prepared for. I've always thought I would trust her and nurture her and have this open relationship where we would be sympathetic to each other. Ha. The computer, phones, the knives, any booze...basically anything she might want...has to be locked down. I never dreamed that a person who didn't live a horrible, abused life would act as she does or make the choices she does. Anyway, I was just hoping there might be others in a similar situation.

[A&A]

[AmaraMonillas]

I don't know what it is like to parent a teen with bipolar, but I was one not long ago.

[sewchris2642]

Have you had her tested? I did raise a bipolar dd. But she wasn't diagnosed until in her 20s. We celebrated her 30th birthday last night. I can't really pinpoint what we did right for her other than accept her for who she was and give her the tools to deal with the world. And that started way before she hit the teen years. Looking back, I think that there were signs that she developed bipolar (along with OCD and social anxiety) somewhere in the preschool years. By the time she would have started K, we knew that she was different. We limited her social contacts and homeschooled her until she wanted to try school in 6th grade. She went back to homeshooling for 7th-9th grade through the school district (3 days at home, 2 days in a classroom; 9th grade was 2.5 days at home). Her senior year, she opted for independent study. We taught her how to self control and what to do when she lost her self control. She was required to attend the family gatherings but not required to participate. During the teen years, she says that the main thing that kept her from committing suicide was her family.

[imagine21]

I pm'ed you...