Child aggression: Dealing with childhood bipolar disorder and other mood disorders

Many parents believe that children with behavioral issues need stricter parenting. This is a common belief among American parents. Childhood bipolar disorder is a mood disorder that involves highs and lows in terms of mood. Many parents are opposed to medication, but usually, these parents think a child is better off punished than medicated.

Christian love is what every child needs, including children with bipolar disorder. The Greek root word translated "love" in the New Testament is αγαπαο (Latin: agapao), and refers to putting children first, and yourself as a parent last, in a convicted way leading to dutiful and selfless submission to children and their every vulnerable need, expecting absolutely nothing in return, with children resting safely and securely in parents. See Colossians 3:20-21 KJV:

Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

The Greek root word translated "obey" is υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) and refers to secure, vulnerable rest in the love and grace of parents. Children with bipolar disorder are often violent with their parents, but especially mothers. Why is this? Because they feel safe confiding into mothers, even to the point of blows. This is what the Greek word υπακουο (Latin: hupakouo) refers to. It is a form of surrender to parents based on open trust. Attachment parenting was the norm in Ancient Israel and the Early Church. Think a Christian mother holding pales of water, wrapping up a young child next to her bosom in swaddling clothing, with an older child strapped to her back in a papoose bag. Parents were seen in biblical times as selfless figures, to the level of martyrdom, being extensions of Christ laying themselves down for a Godhead which is children.

The Greek root word translated "provoke...to anger" is ερεθιζο (Latin: erethizo) and refers to damages or abuse, namely child abuse in this context. Child abuse is defined as the slightest of personal offense perceived by the child, including the slightest of offensive touch or speech, coming from entitlement. This includes any unnecessary restraint, or any seclusion at all, of a child, including a child with mental illness, as well as any punishment, including for manifestations of a mental disorder such as bipolar disorder. In this commandment, the Apostle Paul was lifting up the Law on punishment and controlling demeanor towards children, rebuking Greek Christians for bringing their pagan spanking custom into the church, with Greek Christian parents misusing the book of Proverbs as an excuse for abuse even then. The Apostle Paul was stating clearly that Proverbs was simply wisdom literature, and not a book about parenting. The Apostle Paul was, in fact, anti-spanking, and opposed punishing a child for any reason.

Parents in biblical times dealt with behaviors indicative of bipolar disorder, and they dealt with them using vulnerability tactics, namely incurring child aggression onto themselves, and crying due to being rendered helpless by their child. At the end of every Christian parent's rope was a ball of tears, not a ball of fists. The tears usually snap the child out of their rage attack. It is an attack on their nervous system where the word "no" leads to a fight for life, by the bodily standard. It is a classic bipolar behavior in children.

The only relief for the symptoms is something that didn't exist in biblical times - mood stabilizers, including the standard dosage of lithium carbonate. Until then, parents simply have to tolerate being beaten by their child, and have to cry in admission of their helplessness to their child's aggression. It is a low place you go when someone is tormenting you. Vulnerability tactics seek here not to seek help, as much as to petition for your child to stop striking and attacking you. Relief from symptoms will only come from medication. No amount of punishment will ever replace medication for symptoms of bipolar disorder in children. Many parents want to punish, but that will simply hamper development of the child once the right medication is found, which can take years from the first time you consult with a psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician. Until then, just focus on tolerating aggression and otherwise keeping your child safe. They may harm themselves or threaten suicide, in which case they need to be kept safe in some way. Locking up the knives and the guns is a safe bet.

Children with bipolar disorder do not need strictness. They actually need limits to be more lax. Just let them tear apart the room. There is hope with modern medicine. Medication alone solves the problem, once you find the right one.

The depraved and entitled parents who provoke children to anger will not inherit the Kingdom of God! Let them be cast into the lake of fire and burning sulfur, which is the second death, prepared for Satan and his accomplices! Let them descend into the abyss which is the ever-burning Hell of fire and torment, suffering God's Wrath forever and ever! Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!