by Missy Dickerson

Created on: July 27, 2009   Last Updated: July 29, 2009

Raising children is filled with highs and lows. Each day you watch your child grow and become more independent. Our goal as parents is to help our children reach adulthood and become productive members of society. For parents, sending their children off to start a new life is filled with excitement and promise of a wonderful future either through college, marriage or just moving on. However, that excitement and promise is replaced with fear and uncertainty when the child they're assisting is bipolar, but with utilizing mental health resources the transition to adulthood for the bipolar child can go smoothly.

With the bipolar young adult, the parents are gripped with nervousness and hesitation. Parents of the bipolar child lose sleep about whether their child will remember to take their medication or be able to find their way home if they get confused while they're in their manic phase. These parents don't have the luxury to worry only about their child's ability to handle finances or if they're eating right. These horrible feelings of insecurity become overwhelming and transform into panic because the parents aren't confident they're doing what's right. Parents are left scrambling to make sure their child is prepared as possible to enter society, but is the bipolar child ever really prepared to handle the discrimination against mental illness or the complexities of societal boundaries? These are the types of issues that parents of adult bipolar patients are faced with when the subject of "letting go" is brought to the table. To the parents of the bipolar patient, "letting go" equals fear.

Bipolar is a disorder that affects the mood. If we breakdown the word bipolar we can get a better understanding of the disorder. The word "bi" means two and the word "polar" means opposite in tendency. Bipolar patients experience mood swings that can be extreme or mild. Their mood swings to the manic phase (highs) or the depressive phase (lows). Sometimes the moods switch fast, but most times it's gradual, but the effects can be felt through the entire family. It's plain to see that bipolar is a disorder that is confusing to the patient and to their families. An example of the confusion would be a well-child asks the bipolar child to play cards and both kids agree to play, the well-child will go to get the cards and by the time they get back the bipolar child's mood changed and they don't want to play anymore. This up and down; hot and cold situation is typical in a bipolar

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