The Life of a Bipolar Child: What Every Parent and Professional Needs to Know [Paperback]

Trudy Carlson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 2000

Mood Swings? Behavioral Problems? Attention Deficit Hyperactivity in Children? You must read this book. Newly expanded version of "The Suicide of My Son", with new chapters devoted to examining the life of the bipolar child. In this profoundly moving story, the author Trudy Carlson discusses the symptoms of bipolarity (manic-depression) and anxiety disorder in young persons. Written for parents, teachers, health care professionals - anyone interested in today's youth. Enlightening, informative and educational.

Editorial Reviews

Review

I sincerely hope that many will read and profit from your book. -- Dr. Mogens Schou Risskov, Denmark. The pioneer in the use of lithium therapy for manic-depressive illness. Honorary President of the International Society of Bipolar Disorders.

Well written and thoughtful. An interesting personal account of the symptoms of depression and anxiety. Carlson has done a very nice job of covering a difficult subject. -- Dr. Carrie Borchardt, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Minnesota

You have to publish your book. If more people would be familiar with how to treat young bipolar patients with small amounts of lithium, it would reduce the death rate enormously. -- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross M.D. Author of Death and Dying, Children and Death

About the Author

Trudy Carlson never intended to write this book. Her son Ben's death changed the direction of her life, and her writing. Schooled as a professional in behavioral disabilities, she taught university level courses in child psychology, adolescent psychology, developmental psychology, the psychology of the exceptional child, personality and mental hygiene, educational psychology, the psychology of individual differences, and seminar topics for advanced students. With these skills it was devastating when her son who suffered from bipolar illness, anxiety disorder and ADHD died by suicide.

Trudy soon turned her skills to developing a series of books that dealt with the difficulties of children and adults with bipolar illness, learning disabilities, ADHD, and anxiety disorder. She also published the highly respected Suicide Survivors Handbook.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Benline Press; 1 edition (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0964244373
• ISBN-13: 978-0964244375
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #608,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #27 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Personal Health > Children's Health > Learning Disorders

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 50 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive & Understandable Guide, February 3, 2000

By 

PJ in Minnesota - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life of a Bipolar Child: What Every Parent and Professional Needs to Know (Paperback)

Written by an educator and mother of a bipolar child who died by suicide, this book is written in easily-understood everyday language. While not dwelling on her tragedy, Carlson does a good job of correlating her son's diagnosed bipolar illness with his subsequent death, and offers a great wealth of information on both topics. Covering "behavioral problems," Attention Deficit Disorder, and symptoms of manic depressive illness, Carlson speaks directly to parents, educators and health professionals.

You can find plenty of technically written journals on the market (nothing wrong with those!) but if you want to hear from someone who's been in the trenches; someone who LIVED with this challenge, this is the book for you.

I highly recommend it.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent source of information and inspiration, February 8, 2000

By 

Betsy (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Life of a Bipolar Child: What Every Parent and Professional Needs to Know (Paperback)

Trudy Carlson has done a wonderful job of describing a bipolar child in this updated version of her earlier book, "The Suicide of My Son". It contains a new chapter on current bipolar disorder research. There is other helpful information on medications, comorbid disorders, screening for depression, ways to anticipate and prevent suicide ,treatment plans and many detailed suggestions for teachers and school administrators. A very thorough book, written in layman's language.

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Where is the editor?, October 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Life of a Bipolar Child: What Every Parent and Professional Needs to Know (Paperback)

This book is very short on organization and is written in a manner that is a bit hard to follow. Unimportant details are thrown in frequently; important parts of the story are worked in too late. I was having trouble understanding why ideas were misplaced in this book and I was nagged by thoughts like: "Why did the editor of this book not clean up the story sequence?".

The author does not cite that she possesses any particular training, and yet, she throws around all kinds of "facts" and figures about depression and other illnesses and does not bother to give the first clue about where she is getting specific bits of information (although there are references in the back). I know that some of the information is on the money, because I have read it elsewhere. But other items are surprising to me. I keep thinking "Where is the EDITOR of this book! "

I keep thinking "I wonder how many of these figures I should believe, if any?" When she sticks to her own experiences, the book is quite valuable, but when the author turns the thing into more of a textbook about half way through, I get frustrated. I am plagued by how and why the editor would allow so much academic-type information from someone with no apparent academic credentials in this area.

And then it strikes me, as you have probably already figured out. This is a self-published book. There IS no editor. No publisher at all is listed on the cover, but when you look inside, you see that it is printed by Benline Press--the first syllable being the name of the son.

I feel betrayed by the bookseller. I am not sure I would have ordered this book had I known that its publication was not supervised by a disinterested party. There is very little on the market about bipolar disorder in children, and I would like to see other attempts made.