Although only 12 pages long, “My Special Brother Turtle,” is a book that focuses on the challenges of living with a family member with pediatric bipolar disorder and ADHD.
Its author? Karina MacLean, the older sister of the 7-year-old brother who serves as the subject of the book. Shy and quiet in person, according to this news story, Karina said she wrote the book to help educate and help other people.
“There are not a lot of books out there for children with siblings like this,” Debra [Karina's mother] said. “This has been all about her.”
Karina addresses this in the book, writing how the other sibling deals with the varying emotions that come with having a brother who has special needs. In the book, the special brother turtle can pitch a fit when he does not get his way, even in public places. Sister Turtle says she can feel embarrassed by the outburst, but she also feels bad because he’s different. This means trips to the mall have to be cut short and special activities, like trips to a theme park, can be almost impossible due to the large crowds and noise.
Isn’t the Internet amazing? Ten years ago, such a book would’ve never made it out of the house. Maybe it would’ve been photocopied a few times, at best. More likely it would’ve been shared with her parents and put into a pile where it would soon be forgotten. But here it is self-published online, available to everyone and anyone for a few dollars.
Karina is touching the lives of hundreds of kids like her, living with a sibling who has a serious mental disorder such as bipolar or ADHD. I wish more people could see how beneficial such simple acts can be.
The self-published book is available for purchase from CafePress.
(5 votes, average: 4.6 out of 5)
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4 Comments to
“Girl Publishes Own Book of Living with Brother with Bipolar & ADHD”
It is great to see a sibling writing about her experience with a brother with special needs; I hope her book can help others struggling in the same position.
I, however, have yet to see any convincing evidence that a seven year-old child can be bipolar. Diagnosing and medicating children that young with bipolar disorder is irresponsible and inexcusable. The paradigm was that bipolar only appeared in early adulthood, until recently. Applying the label to children this young seems like another misguided effort by drug companies. No one has any idea how either the label or medication will affect these children.
I am not anti-psychiatry by any stretch of the imagination; I am on medication myself.
Let us not forget Rebecca Riley.
this book sounds fantastic, i thoroughly recommend this young girls actions, well done !!!
In response to Natalie:
I work with the parents of these kids as well as the kids, and medicating children is not “irresponsible.” The entire family lives in a nightmarish hell day to day, and the medications help most children to stabilize so that the family and individual therapies can work. Literally thousands of children and their families have found healing due to responsible psychotropic interventions.
Childhood bipolar absolutely exists.
We can not rule out a treatment due to unfortunate tragedies for a few.
Thanks,
AS
I recently came across this article called “Binuclear Family” by Ruth Bettelheim, which talks about how divorce is painful, but how also divorce can hep children gain. While divorce is painful, Bettelheim argues that countless studies have shown children of divorced parents are more empathic than their peers and have a greater devotion to honesty, kindness, integrity, and compassion in relationships. Although it may seem counterintuitive, she claims that the great challenges children face present them with powerful opportunities for growth. Rather than living in fear, these children will be confident.
If you have some free time, check this article out along with some of the other articles on this site that are about family:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood
/current_issue/Bettelheim.html
main website: http://www.greatergoodmag.org
(This current issue is on the 21st Century family)
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Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 10 Oct 2007
