Helping Your Child To Combat Bipolar Through Social Rhythm Therapy

Having a child with bipolar often causes angst, not only in the child, but also in the other family members in the household. But, since there currently is no cure for bipolar, it is incumbent on everyone in the family to learn to deal with the situation.

Normally, when an adult is diagnosed with bipolar disorder, he is placed on medication. With children, however, much more care is needed in prescribing medicines. This is because, a child is still growing and developing, and you want to ensure that any medications he is given will not adversely impact his brain development. So, as a result, even when medicines are prescribed for children, because of the limited dosages, they will not always have the same effect in a child as they would in an adult.

Because of this, therapy is often just as important in treating children with bipolar as drugs are. A prime cause of anxiety in a child with bipolar is his not understanding what is happening to him. And, therapy is one of the best tools available for helping us to understand ourselves.

When talking through his problems with a therapist, he will gradually gain an understanding of bipolar and the reasons why it is affecting him in certain ways. This understanding and demystification of the disease helps to calm his reactions to the illness. Therapy can also provide him with the psychological tools to better control his reactions when with friends and family or when alone.

One type of therapy that is particularly useful is something called social rhythm therapy. This is a fairly recent form of therapy, but shows great promise in the treatment of bipolar disorder. It focuses on helping the child to establish and maintain daily habitual rhythms in their life.

Essentially, the child will be encouraged to set regular patterns of sleeping, eating, exercising, and so on. For example, rather than going to bed at random times during the week, he is encouraged to go to bed at the same time every day. And the same is true with eating, school, and other activities that he is involved in throughout the day. By establishing regular patterns, he is subjected to less stresses throughout the day.

The importance of social rhythm therapy is the recognition that, to be most effective, bipolar cannot be treated with drugs alone. By incorporating this type of therapy into his overall treatment, he is able to live a much better quality of life.