Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

A mom who lost her Bipolar son to suicide wrote this book based on her personal experience. It definately does not do what the subtitle says it does--give parents and professionals everything they need to know! I found that a new book, "If Your Child is Bipolar" gives great information on what parents need to do to take care of their Bipolar child and does a much, much better job. "The Bipolar Child" should also be on the bookshelf of every parent with a child who is or might be Bipolar.

While this book addresses many important topics related to childhood-onset Bipolar Disorder, it is also very closely tied to the author's personal experience of losing a child to the disorder. It provides one parent's perspective on medical treatment and suicide. It's can be a helpful resource, but could also be somewhat depressing for parents looking for solutions to their daily challenges.--Sheryl Gurrentz, co-author of "If Your Child is Bipolar--a parent to parent guide to living with and loving a Bipolar child"

This book is a thorough guide to childhood bipolar disorder. It rivals "The Bipolar Child" in that it is an attempt to provide a comprehensive picture of the disorder to parents and doctors. I don't think it's quite as well written or well organized as "The Bipolar Child", but I still recommend that it be read since I think a number of sources of information should be used when approaching a complex subject like bipolar disorder. Avery Z. Conner, author of "Fevers of the Mind".

This book has some good info, but is a very personal perspective of one person's experience--and her child committed suicide!