Manic Depression In My Family

My family has a long history of psychological disorders, mostly severe depression and anxiety. My mother has OCD as well. I also have depression and anxiety mixed with some other issues, but none of this came to my mind when I received this assignment. The person that came to my mind was my sister, Jessica. Jessica was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, also known as manic depression, when I was in elementary school. At the time I really did not understand what this meant, but as I grew older, her symptoms became more apparent and I really began to understand this issue. My sister was a problem child in my family when I was growing up. She caused my parents great stress with her grades, her attitude, her honesty, and much more. One day, when I was younger, probably about ten, my sister shoplifted from Walmart. At the time she was 16/17. Her probation officer forced her to go to counseling to try to resolve whatever issues she had. At the time, my family had no idea that anything was wrong with her. They just thought she was being a normal teenager, maybe suffering from some angst. …show more content…
The counsellor prescribed her an anti-depressant, which ended up hurting her more than helping her feel better. Her harmful actions intensified, and her moods became more manic in nature then suddenly it would turn into extreme sadness. After this, the counsellor diagnosed her with bipolar disorder or manic depression. This diagnosis really helped explain a lot of my sister’s bad behavior. My sister was a great student, but around the time of her transition into her teenage years, her grades plummeted, she began getting into trouble a lot, and causing many family fights. Once she was diagnosed, my parents began to understand this behavior and attributed much of it to her bipolar