Available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Christian Book and fine booksellers everywhere
Thanks to Ministry-To-Children!
“The most complete special needs ministry resource I’ve ever come across.”
Honored to be in Sharecare Now’s Top Ten online influencers in children’s mental health!
Tag Archives: Bipolar Disorder
How well should medication work for my child’s condition?
Medication typically isn’t a panacea for kids and teens experiencing mental illness, and in general, the more serious the symptoms of mental illness experienced by children and teens, the lower the likelihood is that medication will lead to an ongoing remission of the child’s symptoms. Continue reading
DSM-5: Emphasis on the EPISODIC nature of Bipolar Disorder in kids
During the latter decades of the 20th century, this contention by researchers that severe, nonepisodic irritability is a manifestation of pediatric mania coincided with an upsurge in the rates at which clinicians assigned the diagnosis of bipolar disorder to their pediatric patients. This sharp increase in rates appears to be attributable to clinicians combining at least two clinical presentations into a single category. That is, both classic, episodic presentations of mania and non-episodic presentations of severe irritability have been labeled as bipolar disorder in children. In DSM-5, the term bipolar disorder is explicitly reserved for episodic presentations of bipolar symptoms.
Continue reading
Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)…A necessary response to the “bipolar” epidemic
Adding diagnostic criteria to the DSM-5 for DMDD is a significant plus for kids if the new guidelines help clinicians to be more thoughtful in evaluating kids with moodiness and irritability. Continue reading
A different way of thinking about kids with mental illness
Let’s think about church for a minute and consider the reality that folks with mental illnesses have disabilities that cause them difficulty in some environments but not others. There are lots of things about the environments in which we “do church” that pose major barriers for a parent or child struggling with common mental health disorders.
Continue reading
Posted in ADHD, Advocacy, Anxiety Disorders, Families, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Strategies
Tagged ADHD, aggression, anxiety, Asperger's Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, church, Depression, Family Ministry, Inclusion, Joe McGinnis, Key Ministry, mental health, mental illness, ministry environments, Stephen Grcevich MD
1 Comment
Are they really depressed, or do they have something else?
One of the challenges I face as a clinician when a family comes to our practice because they suspect their child is depressed is teasing out all of the other possible explanations for why their child might appear depressed. Continue reading
Posted in ADHD, Anxiety Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry, Mental Health
Tagged ADHD, anxiety, Bipolar Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, children, children's ministry, Depression, diagnosis, Family Ministry, Inclusion, Key Ministry, learning disabilities, medication, OCD, Stephen Grcevich MD, substance abuse, teens, youth ministry
2 Comments
When Mood Dysregulation Heightens Risk for Aggression at Church
Here’s a general rule of thumb…When a child or teen is demonstrating aggressive behavior that appears to be predominantly impulsive in nature, decreasing the sensory stimulation in the environment is generally helpful. When a child or teen demonstrates aggressive behavior resulting primarily from perseveration on a perceived hurt or frustration, distracting the child as early as possible in the cycle is generally helpful. Continue reading
What Do We Know About Kids at Risk of Behaving Aggressively?
The most important take home point is that there’s a pretty good chance kids who struggle with aggressive behavior at church have some condition that predisposes them to act that way or have been victims of such behavior themselves.
Continue reading
Posted in Hidden Disabilities, Key Ministry
Tagged ADHD, anxiety, Autism, Bipolar Disorder, Key Ministry, maladaptive aggression, PTSD
3 Comments
How the Church Can Help Families of Kids With Bipolar Disorder
Not every kid has to come to church to be ministered to by the church. Parents have far more time and opportunity to influence their children than the church does. Parents of a child with bipolar disorder are more likely to know the best strategies for communicating with them in different mood states. Continue reading
Posted in Bipolar Disorder, Inclusion, Key Ministry, Mental Health, Ministry Environments, Strategies
Tagged Bipolar Disorder, children's ministry, church, Disability Ministry, inclusion ministry, mental health ministry, pediatric bipolar disorder, Special Needs Ministry, spiritual development, student ministry, youth ministry
3 Comments
Church4EveryChild 