Save a Child or Teen from Themselves

This blog combines two of the things I'm most passionate about, the protection of children and mental illness. Each year nearly 7% of all children suffer from mental illness yet few of them ever receive the help they need. Below is a link that will take you to vote for funding that Pepsi can donate to the Child and Adolescent Bipolar Foundation (CABF) to fund a campaign that will help both children and their families that suffer from mental illness.

http://pep.si/cH1iJY

or

http://www.bpkids.org/

Although I was recently diagnosed with mental illness, I've had it for quite some time yet no one noticed and as a child and teen I didn't know how to reach out to the right people and get help myself. I attempted, thankfully unsuccessful, suicide several times as a teenager. If I had been better at killing myself I would just be another statistic of suicide and no one would know why.

There are many kids who grow up feeling out of sorts with reality. They know that something is wrong. They want to be like everyone else, yet no matter what they do nothing ever works. 

They learn to talk more slowly, not realizing they talk too fast when in a manic state. They isolate themselves, reading the minds of their family thinking no one loves them when they are depressed. They don't think it will ever change because depression and manic states are all they know. They are a bipolar child. 

They ask their parents every time they leave the house where they are going and when they will be back. They make sure everything is planned out so that when things do not go according to plan, they can cope more easily. They stay away from messy homes or rooms, sometimes secluding in their own room which is perfectly clean, so much so that if you move anything they will notice. They are the child who suffers from anxiety. 

They have a difficult time falling asleep. They have nightmares when sleep finally comes. They get uncomfortable and frigidity when left alone with a man of any age.  They refuse to talk to a man of any age while alone. They have panic attacks when trapped in a room with a man of any age. They are the children with PTSD due to trauma suffered.

The signs are different for each person. The examples above are purely mine. Fact is that it happens. Children of the world have mental illnesses and they need help so that they can live. With your vote children may not only live, but live well. They can learn what it's like to not always be "sick". They can enjoy childhood, which I guarantee most children who suffer undiagnosed do no enjoy. They have no childhood. All they have is worry and despair.

Please Help, Please Vote. 

Deadline is November 30th, 2010.