I am the mother of an 11-yr. old daughter who was diagnosed with BP at age 8 in l996. I have found the following resources useful and wish to share them with other parents. Please send additions & feedback to me at 104107.2557@compuserve.com. ....Martha H.
Child Psychopharmacology Information Service (CPIS), UW-Madison, Wis.P.I.C., 600l Research Park Boulevard, Madison, WI 53719-ll79 (608)263-6l7l. Mainly serves professionals, but will answer quick questions by phone on psychiatric medications in children. Send e-mail to Jay at: jjfruehl@facstaff.wisc.edu
DRADA (Depression & Related Affective Disorders Association) affiliated with Dept. of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore. Offers courses, videos, young people's program & annual symposium with famous speakers who have mood disorders. Phone: (4l0) 955-4647 email: drada@welchlink.welch.jhu.edu
Federation of Families. (Families with children who have a mental illness). 1021 Prince St., Alexandria, VA (703)684-7710. Special outreach to African-American & low-income families using managed care, SSI, etc.
IAMI (Illinois Alliance for the Mentally Ill). Executive Director--Randy Wells. l-800-346-4572. Working on legislation to require health insurance companies to cover bipolar disorder the same as other medical illnesses. Are similar chapters in every state.
Lithium Information Center. C/O Madison Institute of Medicine, P.O. Box 628365 Middleton, WI 53562-8365. Tel: 608-827-2470. FAX 608-827-2479 email: (hartley_bette_l@ssmhc.com)
NARSAD (The National Alliance For Research on Schizophrenia and Depression). 60 Cutter Mill Road , Suite 404 Great Neck ,New York 11021 (516) 829-0091, Fax: (516) 487-6930. Primary focus is on schizophrenia, but they raise money and distribute funds for research into causes, treatment and prevention of severe mental illness. They also put out a free newsletter giving info on the latest research and meds.
NICHCY, The National Information Center for Children and Youth with Disabilities. Children and youth with disabilities (birth to age 22) are their special focus. 1-800-695-0285 (Voice/TT) (202) 884-8200 (Voice/TT) E-mail: nichcy@aed.org Web site: http://www.aed.org/nichcy
NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill). 200 N. Glebe Rd., Suite l0l5, Arlington, VA 22203-3754. (703) 524-7600. Largest, most organized group working for changes in insurance, educational programs for families such as "Journey of Hope," and pushing for research on brain disorders. Increasing emphasis on bipolar & other mood disorders in childhood. Excellent newsletter, the NAMI Advocate. Brenda Souto is Young Family Outreach Coordinator. Her e-mail address is: brenda@nami.org
National DMDA (National Depressive and Manic Depressive Association). 730 N. Franklin St., Suite 50l, Chicago, IL 606l0-3526 (l-800-82NDMDA) Has chapters & support groups all over the U.S. and runs a good bookstore (request catalog). Publishes excellent newsletter.
Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network at the NIMH publishes Bipolar Network News covering the latest research on bipolar disorder; free to family members or those with bipolar disorder (my article, "Parenting a Bipolar Child," appeared in the July, l997 issue). Provides referrals to doctors. Funds major research on bipolar disorder, including Early Childhood Initiative seeking to determine the causes & best treatment for childhood onset bipolar disorder. Will provide free copies of their child daily mood charts, a valuable tool for tracking symptoms and medication response over time. Call l-800-5l8-7326 or send e-mail to: stanley@sparky.nimh.nih.gov
Stanley Center for the Innovative Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (l-800-424-7657) (Dr. David J. Kupfer, director) serves Pittsburgh-area individuals and families. Publishes Innovations, an excellent, informative newsletter available on-line at their Web site: http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/stanley/
American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/stanley/stanley.htm. Source of referrals to competent doctors. (202)-966-7300. Their "Journal of the AACAP" publishes the latest research on mood disorders in kids.
Parent Information & Training Centers--2 or more centers in each state, funded by the Division of Personnel Preparation, Office of Special Education Programs in the US Department of Education. Their stated mission is "to provide training and information to parents to enable [them] to participate more effectively with professionals in meeting the educational needs of children with disabilities." PTI can help parents to:- Understand their children's specific needs.- Communicate more effectively with professionals.- Participate in the educational planning process. - Obtain information about relevant programs, services and resources. For more information, contact the National Parent Network on Disabilities: (NPND), 1727 King St., Ste.305, Alexandria, VA 22314; (703) 684-6763
AACAP (American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry) Home Page: http://www.aacap.org/web/aacap/
Abbott Bipolar Disorders Information Center: http://www.mhsource.com/bipolar
National DMDA (National Depressive and Manic-Depressive Association) Home Page: www.ndmda.org
NAMI (National Alliance for the Mentally Ill) Home Page: www.nami.org
Compuserve: Ongoing support group for parents of bipolar kids. Must be Compuserve subscriber. In Mental Health Forum (type GO:HOPE); select Family Issues section, browse or post messages under subject "Bipolar Kids." For information, contact Martha: 104107.2557@compuserve.com
America On Line: Live on-line "chats" at l0 p.m. (ET) Saturday nights for parents of bipolar kids. For information, contact Cheryl: DrgnKpr1@aol.com
E-Mail Support Group (BPParents) for parents of bipolar kids. Does not require membership in AOL or Compuserve. There are over 200 families on the list; you will get many e-mail messages per day in this group. Many parents say this is the essential support group for parents of BP kids. Requests for subscription should be sent from this web site: www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1068/
BPSO Internet Support group for persons in relationship with someone who has bipolar disorder (parents, spouses, children, siblings, etc.): To subscribe, send a message to majordomo@ipl.co.uk, containing the body text: subscribe bpso. The subject line may be left blank. The list owner may be reached at: bpso-owner@ipl.co.uk
Web Sites for Parents of Bipolar Kids: http://members.aol.com/DrgnKpr1/BPCAT.html and www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1068/
Web Site for Bipolar Teens and their parents: http://www.support-group.com/cgi-bin/sg/get_links?bipolarteens
Web Site that contains list of books & tapes about bipolar disorder: http://www.frii.com/~parrot/media.html
Web Sites on Depression & Bipolar Disorder (include material on kids): http://www.psycom.net/depression.central.html http://www.active-websites.com/mlsupport (lists various Support groups for parents & other family members)
Bandaids and Blackboards: Web site for kids with chronic illnesses. Contains profile of at least one child with bipolar disorder. http://funrsc.fairfield.edu/~jfleitas/contents.html
Dr. Bob's Psychopharmacology Tips: Messages between psychopharmacologists in Internet group on topics relating to psychiatric medications. Superbly indexed & useful. Run by a doctor at U. of Chicago. http://uhs.bsd.uchicago.edu/dr-bob/tips/unframed/tips.html
Stanley Foundation Bipolar Network (at NIMH - the national organization) e-mail to stanley@sparky.nimh.nih.gov Stanley Center for the Innovative Treatment of Bipolar Disorder (local group in Pittsburgh funded by Stanley Foundation) http://www.wpic.pitt.edu/research/stanley/stanley.htm. Self-Care Central: A directory of on-line self-help groups: http://www.healthy.net/selfcare
Medline (or Paperchase): On-line service that allows you to research medical journals for latest info. available to doctors. Some services charge for access, but here is a site which is free: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov./PubMed/ Search under "Bipolar AND children," "mania AND children," "depression AND children," etc. Get the articles by Interlibrary Loan from your local public or university medical school library.
Kidspeace--The National Center for Kids Overcoming Crisis, located in Allentown, PA "one of best kids psychiatric hospitals in the United States" (according to one doctor). Web Site: http://www.kidspeace.org/