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Reflective Memo If I had an extra 24 hours to work on my project I think would make sure that the topics I have put down to discuss actually have information that is accessible to me. Going back to research your ideas and finding little to non information is quite stressful. I think you should know that I have changed my purpose to be something that actually gave information on. You should also know that I really tried to up the ante and have more topical range. I think this is one of my best papers I have written and I am happy with the outcome. I tried putting more depth in my paper as well as tie in usual examples. Trying to paraphrase was very difficult for me because I never consciously thought about it and I have doubts if I have done it properly. This particular project was extremely hard because I had an outline of when to have drafts and outline produces meaning I couldnt use the routine I am used but I feel as though it was extremely helpful as well. Seeing where I wanted to go with my paper topically was very useful because I wasnt going into this blind. I think going through this type of pre-writing process is making become a better writer so the direction if my paper will flow. I think you should focus on the depth of my paper because I tried to go outside of my comfort zone of factual narrative. I have changed my mind about the topics I wanted to discuss many times so if it does not flow clearly then that is something worth knowing. Overall I am proud of this piece of work because it is relevant to my major, the people around me, and myself so I hopefully produced a well written piece reflecting sentimental value it has.

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Jakkia Taylor Professor Borrero English 1102-029 11 April 2013

Teen Mom, a show on MTV, is one of the most well known shows in American culture that not only focuses on teen mothers but gives a look into relationships with their friends, family, and ultimately their children (Teen Mom 2). Jenelle Evans is seen as the crazy girl on the show for the way she behaves. On the show she has dabbled in drugs, has been arrested multiple times, gotten into many explosive arguments and fights with her mother as well as past boyfriends. (Teen Mom 2) She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and began taking medication while on the show. Watching Jenelle grow into a young woman is a painful thing to watch as a viewer. She is always so angry and aggressive towards her mother which affects their mother-daughter relationship greatly. I wanted to know what other viewers thought of her behavior and was ultimately troubled at what I found. Many viewers felt her son, Jace, was going to become a product of his environment. From Jace seeing firsthand how his mother behaved does that mean he is going to become aggressive? Is Jace going to inherit bipolar disorder from his mom because it is genetic? If he displays aggressive behavior is that a starting point towards child bipolar disorder? I decided to do my own research, hoping to find the answers.

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Bipolar disorder is one of the most controversial diagnoses among children in the psychiatric world. It is seen as a brain disorder that causes unusual shifts in mood and energy of mania (extreme happiness) and depression (extreme sadness). (Bipolar Disorder: A Guide) This is a common diagnosis for adults but doctors, psychiatrists, and pressured parents are beginning to include aggression to the symptom list as discussed in Your Child Does Not Have Bipolar Disorder written by Stuart Kaplan, M.D. Aggression does not lead to bipolar disorder in children on through their adulthood; aggression leads to a difficult life that will be forever monitored for the rest of their lives. Children can be extremely temperamental and studies have shown children can grow out of their temperaments as they mature in age (Life-Span Development p.297 paragraph 4). This growth period is ceasing to begin when parents go to doctors and psychiatrists to let these adults medicate their children on false claims. I believe parents and children who are aware of their circumstances should stop this bullying of prescription medications. They should raise questions with the medical, as well as government officials by banning and regulating the way aggression is determined in children because this leads to misdiagnosiss that can cause neurological affects to children down the line. The purpose of this piece is to examine how new symptoms are added to define bipolar disorder in children, the damaging effects of aggression leading to medicate children, and ways parents can help stop the misdiagnosis of their children by educating themselves. By raising these concerns I hope children as well as adults can be properly diagnosed and medicated so they can live as normal of a life as they can. Before we can discuss the topics just mentioned, one has to take into account how aggression in children is viewed culturally and how it is respectively dealt with. Should the focus be on the environment children are growing up in that teach this level of aggression? Or should

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we question societys acceptance of aggression and how the level of aggression has risen throughout the years? My goal is to analyze these other factors to truly be able to aid children and adults suffering from a misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder from a symptom that is difficult to measure based on its own inconsistencies. One cannot simply acknowledge aggression culturally because of the perspectives of it. Based on where you live, whats expected of you, and the norms that are placed on that society, aggression can be seen differently. When Americans see Chinese family members talking in each others faces using loud tones they might assume that they are in an aggressive way of communicating but to their culture it can be seen as normal. Culturally, you have to consider what constitutes to people of different backgrounds what aggression is. This may range from active aggression, violence, physical, or direct acts, and passive aggression which could be seen as verbal abuse, learned helplessness, procrastination etc. Does the outlook of aggression reflect the way they were raised? Is it based of tradition? There are many things to consider when culturally seeing how aggression is being viewed. (Bond) Society has definitely changed their outlook on when aggression in acceptable. In contact sports such as football, it is encouraged that the players get physically angry because that is whats needed to win the game. Fighting in hockey is seen as entertaining instead of questionable. Fans applaud for bloody noses and missing teeth. (Motivation and Emotion pg.277 paragraph 2) The media plays a big part in how aggression is accepted by glorifying reality TV stars on popular shows among young adults. Evelyn Lozada from VH1s Basketball Wives Miami was made into a celebrity after conning the phrase, You are a non motherfucking factor bitch! and putting it on a t-shirt caused her great fame by people who accepted the verbal abuse against another cast member because it was seen as making the show more entertaining with more drama. (FeeWorldOrder) Aggression is seen

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daily through the lives of celebrities and is carried out by people who look up to these people. The same goes for children who play violent video games. Children adopt this aggressive behavior by acting out as the main character as a hit-man, an assassin, or a warrior which is displayed in games like Modern Warfare, Gears of War, Mortal Kombat, and Call of Duty to name a few. (Anderson pgs. 772-790) There have been many studies by psychologists linking the way children observe and imitate aggression against others as well as objects. This can be seen in Albert Banduras 1961 social cognitive theory. Children imitated aggressive behavior to toys in a room alone after viewing a tape of an adult acting aggressively towards an adult plastic doll. (Learning pg. 176-177) Now understanding a bit of how our society and other cultures view aggression, I can assess how children and parents can improve their lives by dealing with negative effects of the misdiagnosis using aggression as a leading symptom. Based off of observations, a large amount of children are displaying a lot of aggression that psychiatrists and doctors feel that should be used in determining bipolar disorder. When children are in one of their moods they display acts of immaturity along with aggression when throwing tantrums. I think because most children show these signs that doctors and psychiatrists assume a connection between the two. By using their observations off of this recurring sign there is a trend among other doctors and psychiatrists who begin to use this as a basis of bipolar disorder in children. Some of these adults are searching for the next big thing in the psychiatric world that they tend to focus on one outcome of the effects that are giving the children discomfort that they forget about the concrete symptoms that have been recorded in the DSMIV-TR. When these doctors and psychiatrists stray away from concrete symptoms new medication is brought in to lessen the aggression which is a problem in itself. (Read)

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When doctors and psychiatrists see new symptoms they add another medication to treat it but dont stop to think about the effects of treating aggression can do to children.. There can be are many damaging effects that these antipsychotic, antidepressant drugs and sedatives that doctors use to treat aggression in children not only physically but mentally. (Bipolar Medication Guide). Jacob Solomon who was first diagnosed at the age of five years old for an attention deficient disorder now has a rolling neck, a tic, sudden, painless, nonrhythmic behaviors that are either motor (related to movement) or vocal and that appear out of context. (Tic Disorders) he acquired from the combination of drugs that were given to treat he illness. Seen in The Medicated Child, a documentary that views the effects of diagnosing children diagnosed with child bipolar disorder at a young age. It is seen how Jacob is accepted at school by his peers but other are not as fortunate. Some children become subjected to bullying because of these noticeable differences from drugs and feel self conscious. Once children are bullied it becomes a snowball effect and they may develop suicidal thoughts that can also be influenced by a combination of drugs. Over a 5 year study, 26% of children from a 413 participant study made at least an attempt of suicide as well as many attempts. (Goldstein) These statistics are extremely heartbreaking but there are ways that parents can prevent things like this from happening. There are many things parents can do that can ultimately save their children a life of cocktail drugs that treat something they might not have. Support is the ultimate tool to help children live as healthy as possible (Parents Struggle). Parents should be open-minded and available to their children if they are feeling down in the dumps. Concerned parents should always be a few steps ahead of the conversations that are about the diagnosis of their children. In my eyes, parents should know if not just as much as doctors do when they begin to diagnosis the child. Reading the DSM-IV-TR to look up the symptoms your child has is very helpful to make

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sure your child is being diagnosed for what they have. I think knowing what each potential medication is could help when determining that the child has to take. Knowing potential side effects will help parents knowing how to facilitate their children when ailments might happen. Finding an alternative method before the child is introduced to harmful drugs, as well as having the least amount of medication taken can save a lot of pain. Parents always want to let the drugs do all the work but sometimes talking to your child and being there for them can go a long way as well. Being there for a child when he or she is in their most vulnerable state will impact the rest of their lives while dealing with bipolar disorder. All these things can ultimately help children go through life being happy and living a life of normalcy. So parents have a lot of things they can do to prevent the misdiagnosis of bipolar disorder in their children by way of aggression. Parents should question and hold responsible adults who continue to misdiagnosis children and start to raise questions about diagnosing their children. Parent should also do their own homework to make sure doctors and psychiatrists arent abusing their power by being the only adult thats in the know of what is happening to the child. But after all of this context of aggression and how it affects children there are still questions that are unanswered. Will the DSM V releasing in May of 2013 have a concrete definition of child bipolar disorder? Should parents overlook aggression their child is exemplifying and cunt that as children having temper tantrums? The questions will never stop as long as this way of diagnosing children goes unpunishable and is accepted throughout the medical and psychiatric world.

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Works Cited Page American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: "Tic Disorders."

Massachusetts General Hospital: "Tic Info."

Anderson, C.A.; Dill, K.E. (2000). "Video Games and Aggressive Thoughts, Feelings, and Behavior in the Laboratory and in Life". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 78 (4): 772790

Andreu, Takehiro; Manuel, J.; Fujihara, Takehiro; Kohyama, Takaya; Ramirez, J. Martin (1998). "Justification of Interpersonal Aggression in Japanese, American, and Spanish Students". Aggressive Behavior 25 (3): 185195.

Bond, MH. (2004) 'Aggression and culture', in Encyclopedia of applied psychology, Volume 1.

FWOSTAFF. "FeeWorldOrder.com." FeeWorldOrdercom RSS. 31 May 2011. FeeWorldOrder. 11 Apr. 2013

Goldstein, TR. "Psychiatry." Bipolar disorder associated with high rates of suicide in youth. 23 July 2012. Healio Education. 11 Apr. 2013

Lewis, Melvin, MK and Martini Dulcan, and Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. "Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression) in Children and Teens." Bipolar Disorder (Manic Depression) in Children and Teens. 2010 Massachusetts General Hospital, School Psychiatry Program and MADI Resource Center, n.d. 2010. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.

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"Learning." Cognitive Learning: Learning by Observing. 2013 Pearson Education Inc., 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

"Life-Span Development." Life-Span Development: Temperament. 2013 Pearson Education Inc., 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Lopez, Korina. "Parents Struggle with Decision to Medicate Bipolar Kids." USA Today. Gannett, 8 Dec. 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2013.

Mondimore, Francis M. Bipolar Disorder: A Guide for Patients and Families, 2nd ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006

"Motivation and Emotion." Other Important Motive: Aggression. 2013 Pearson Education Inc., 1 Jan. 2012. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.

Read, Kimberly. "Diagnosing a Child with Bipolar Disorder - Emphasizing Irritability." About.com Bipolar Disorder. 23 Mar. 2011. About.com. 11 Apr. 2013

Smith, Meinda, Lawrence Robinson, Jeanna Segal, and Damon Ramsey. "Bipolar Medication Guide." : Medications and Drugs for Bipolar Disorder Treatment. Helpguide.org, Mar. 2013. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.

n.p."Teen Mom 2." Wikipedia. 04 Nov. 2013. Wikimedia Foundation. 11 Apr.

"The Medicated Child." PBS.org. PBS Video, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 7 Feb. 2013.