Rages are an extreme presentation of behavior that can be exhibited in unstable people with bipolar disorder.  Some say rages are brought on by depression, some say mania, and some say they are seizures.  Really, it doesn’t matter.   The fact is, nothing good comes from rages.

Rages are:  out of control, destructive, yelling, screaming, hitting, threats, property damage, self damage, suicide threats, all of it.

For me and for our family, rages are an unacceptable part of bipolar disorder and must be proactively prevented and addressed with medication and trigger awareness.  Rages are often seen in younger children and while these are difficult and can be scary for parents, they are manageable while the child is young.  Rages in pre-teens, teens and adults, however, are dangerous and need to be addressed immediately and prevented with proper medication.

Think about it, your child is young and rages.  They are smaller than you.  You do what you can to prevent physical damage, mitigate the situation, protect the other children and animals in the path of destruction.  And more often than not, you can.   The rage passes and although people are shaken and some property may be damaged, things are still somewhat ok.

But then your child gets older.  They get stronger.  They get more socially aware and their peers notice their behavior.  Society knows that their brains are more mature and people expect more from them.  My son at 13 years old is taller and stronger than anyone else in our house (well, technically Don is still stronger than Rye but if Rye were to rage his adrenaline rush would make him strong enough to overcome Don).   He is 13 and over 6ft tall with shoes on.  And he is athletic and strong.

So, what do we do?  We can’t say that rages are ‘just a part of bipolar disorder’ to be worked through.  No way.  If you’ve ever lived with an adult that rages you know just how much emotional and physical damage can be done by this behavior.  Ragers are terrifying.  We must actively work to get the medication right.  And work to get trigger awareness. It is imperative that we prevent rages, not just deal with them once they happen. The stakes are too high now.  Once a rage happens, it’s quite possibly too late.  A full blown rage at this age would more likely than not result in a 5150 hospital admittance or police restraint.  And we don’t want either.  Also, we want Rye to be able to control himself, his environment, his relationships and have a high quality of life.    If he can’t control himself, he can’t have a high quality of life becasue he’s like a cannon constantly waiting to go off.  And he knows it, his friends know it, everyone knows it.  And eventually no one wants any part of it.

I’m happy to say that due to me getting over my fears of medication (which took a while), Rye has not had a rage in long time now.  I feel he is stable and now has the proper amount of medication for him to be stable.  Does he still get mad?  Yes.  Does he still get frustrated?  Yes.  And we actively work to prevent environmental triggers as well.  But with the Depakote and Seroquel (which we have started using daily) he is in control of his life.  He still laughs a lot and is very silly.  He still loves to have fun and is quite the character.  He still gets sad.  But he doesn’t get extreme and he doesn’t do things that endanger himself or others.

And we are aware…this is a work in progress.  And always will be.  Rye is always susceptible to rages.  It’s how his brain work.  But we can work with it to the best of our ability and work to give him the best life possible.  And that’s what we do.

And such is the case with so many kids these days.  They go to the psychiatrist for one set of symptoms, get put on psychiatric medicines, over time have an adverse reaction to those medicines [psychosis, rages, depression, emotional meltdowns, violence, suicidal thoughts], and now they are diagnosed as bipolar and they are off and running down an endless lifetime of psychiatric medicines.  And the sad thing is, those medications can actually cause some of the psychiatric syndromes.  So it all becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

What a mess for the parents and the kids.  And a dream come true for the pharmaceutical companies.

Anyway,  I saw this article today on www.sciencedaily.com and it rang true to me with regard to what I wrote yesterday about accepting Rye’s reactions and just working with them.

The article High Sensitivity To Stress Isn’t Always Bad For Children states:

But contrary to expectation, such children were also more likely to thrive when they were raised in caring, low-stress families because of their sensitivities to the supportive and nurturing qualities of such environments.

“The study tells us that when children are highly susceptible to stress, it’s not always bad news, but rather should be considered in terms of the type of environment they live in,” explains Obradović.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100205081815.htm

Interesting.

Environment makes a difference.