If you walk through the halls of any middle school or high school in the country and just listen, you might be surprised by what you hear. Terms such as retarded, OCD, ADHD, neurotic, depressed, and bipolar are thrown about precariously, used as teasing insults. They’ve become almost as common as the words dumb, stupid, idiot, freak, creep, weirdo, and dork, and are usually used in the same context. This evolution of insults is a result of a higher awareness of common mental disorders that occur in children and adolescents especially, but not a result of a greater acceptance. Studies show that one percent of adolescents ages 14 to 18 meet criteria for bipolar disorder, or its milder cousin, cyclothymia. That is nothing to tease about, especially when the classmate walking beside you could very well be a contributor to that data.

Bipolar disorder is appropriately named; a child with the illness may swing between moods whose differences are as drastic as those between north and south. These moods, or states of mind, are classified as manic and depressive. A child or adolescent who is manic identifies with having the symptoms: increased energy, a decreased need for sleep, distractibility, and a disregard for risk. When depressive, the adolescent may become tired, persistently sad, or irritable; she may lose interest in activities that she once enjoyed, lose her appetite, or have recurrent thoughts of suicide or death. Any one of these symptoms can pose a threat towards a child’s healthy development. Imagine the lives of bipolar children and adolescents, who display more than one of these traits, and switch uncontrollably from “north” to “south” at unpredictable times; the results are devastating for both the family and the child.

If you walk through the halls of any middle school or high school in the country and just look, you’ll notice that each student who passes by is very much their own person -- with their own opinions, memories, emotions, talents, and problems. Most receive help and know how to control and cope with metal and emotional issues, but there are too many who do not. Whether they are bipolar, attention deficient, obsessive compulsive, or are going through a phase of depression, somebody, be he a teacher, friend, or parent, is expected to take on the duty of recognizing the symptoms and addressing their cause. Too frequently is a mentally ill child left unnoticed or unheard, and too frequently does an adolescent, once glowing with potential, slip forever away from the loose grasp of her caregivers and instructors -- a grasp that should always have been tighter.