I'm glad we continue to talk about childhood diagnosis and medication before any treatment protocol is set in stone.

John writes:

When I was in high school, I was considered to have a seizure disorder. I was also extremely depressed for various reasons. The solution: pump me full of Mysoline (primidone) and Tegretol (whatever). Photographs of me in my high school yearbook do not show an active or happy teenager. The yearbook is not something at age 51 that I acknowledge owning.

My observation here is that there must be some balance between genetic predisposition to BP disorder (where I am today after several decades of "296.33" - major depressive disorder, recurring, not psychotic per DSM-IV TR) and environmental conditions.

Sometimes it is very hard to be a teenager. I think back to your video, Liz, and to how your freedom of movement was constrained by a row of bricks. My "row of bricks" was a great deal bigger as a teen, but nevertheless I could sense them.

I would not want to be a parent today.

Amen, brother.