New Blog For Parents of Children With A Mental Illness

Here's what's happening on the HealthyPlace site this week:

• "Life with Bob:" A New Parenting Blog For Parents of Children With A Mental Illness
• Share Your Mental Health Experiences
• "DID: I'm Not Sybil" On HealthyPlace TV
• From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs
• Communicating With A Child Who Doesn't Want To Be "Just Like You"

"Life with Bob:" A New Parenting Blog For Parents of Children With A Mental Illness

I think we can agree that there's a lot of good information out there today about mental health issues facing adults. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of children with a mental illness. A good part of the problem is that there haven't been a lot of studies and clinical trials established around children. It's only been recently that the federal government asked the pharmaceutical companies to hold clinical trials, using children and adolescents as subjects, to establish efficacy and side-effect issues for today's psychiatric medications and their use in children.

Where does that leave parents? Many are out there in no-mans land trying to understand and deal with the problems associated with their child's mental illness. Angela McClanahan was one of those parents. Her 9-year old son has bipolar disorder. Angela feels parents are horribly under-represented in both the "blogosphere" and mainstream media.

"The first several years of my son's life were very, very lonely, and my husband and I often felt as if we were floundering alone in an endless ocean. I conducted so many searches looking for someone, anyone, who could relate to what we were experiencing. To be able to provide that for other parents would be an honor for me. I would hope to provide other parents a place to share humor, sadness, anger, and most of all, a feeling they are not alone on this roller coaster ride."

Angela's new blog is called "Life with Bob" and although her son has bipolar disorder, the blog focuses on "parents of children with any mental illness" because there are many universal things that parents of these children face.

Here is Angela McClanahan's "about me" post with accompanying video. I encourage you to join in the conversation on her blog and share your experiences and knowledge through comments.

And I have one favor to ask. If you belong to a support group (real world or online), have a website or blog, participate on facebook, twitter or another social network, would you please share Angela's blog with other parents. As she noted, there aren't many places for parents of children with a mental illness to go to. Thank you.

Other Great New Blogs

In our blogger search conducted over the last two weeks, we found two other fantastic bloggers in Kate White and Holly Gray. Holly is our guest on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show. Kate will be our guest next week. Both Kate and Holly have deep insight into their conditions (Anxiety and Dissociative Identity Disorder respectively) and are looking forward to sharing what they know with others. They invite you to drop by and share your thoughts too.

• Treating Anxiety blog
• Dissociative Living blog

Share Your Mental Health Experiences

Share your thoughts/experiences on any mental health subject, or respond to other people's audio posts, by calling our toll-free number (1-888-883-8045).

You can listen to what other people are saying by clicking on the gray title bars inside the widgets located on the "Sharing Your Mental Health Experiences" homepage, the HealthyPlace homepage, and the HealthyPlace Support Network homepage.

If you have any questions, write us at: info AT healthyplace.com

"DID: I'm Not Sybil" On HealthyPlace TV

Holly Gray is diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder. Holly talks about her life and the "Sybil myth" on this week's HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show.

Watch the interview with our guest, Holly Gray, currently featured on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show website until next Wednesday; watch it here after that.

• The Myth of Sybil (tv show blog, guest info)

Coming in August on the HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Show

• What Doctors Don't Tell You About Living with Anxiety
• Irritable Male Syndrome: Why Some Mid-Life Men Turn Mean
• How I Overcame Deadly Depression

If you would like to be a guest on the show or share your personal story in writing or via video, please write us at: producer AT healthyplace.com

Click here for a list of previous HealthyPlace Mental Health TV Shows.

From HealthyPlace Mental Health Blogs

Your comments and observations are welcomed.

• How to Talk to a Doctor About Your Mental Illness (Breaking Bipolar Blog)
• ADHD and Forgetting to Eat: How Did I Do? (ADDaboy! Adult ADHD Blog)
• Identifying Children As "Mentally Ill" (Li fe with Bob: A Parenting Blog)
• In Charge? BE In Charge Of Eating Disorder Behaviors (Eating Disorder Recovery: The Power of Parents blog)
• The Power of Sound and Its Affects On Our Moods and Health (The Unlocked Life Blog)
• ADHD: Better Late Than Never?
• 5 Depression / Bipolar Treatments You Might Not Know About
• The Nasty Task of Breaking Up with a Nice Person

Feel free to share your thoughts and comments at the bottom of any blog post. And visit the mental health blogs homepage for the latest posts.

Communicating With A Child Who Doesn't Want To Be "Just Like You"

Instead of supporting their child, some parents try to force their wishes, aspirations, and narcissism onto their child. The Parent Coach, Dr. Steven Richfield, recently received this letter:

"Our teenage daughter will not talk to us, and she tells us that we won't accept her for who she is. We are tough parents who expect a lot from her. What should we do?"

His thoughtful response on helping the "Mirror-Me" parent is here.

back to: HealthyPlace.com Mental-Health Newsletter Index