Youth:

(I'm notorious for taking a "don't let yourself be shackled by a mental illness label" point of view, but for what it's worth, here's my rant.)

You can decide to put all your crazy energy into something productive, or you can let it pop out in random places, causing general annoyance, and getting you labeled as "manic-depressive" and put on meds.

The magic phrase is: "Excuse me Mister Adult Male, I'm having a little trouble STRUCTURING MY ENERGY FLOW right now. Can you help me by making sure there is a HIGH-ENERGY activity and a LOW-ENERGY activity available so I can make comfortable choices and not have an inappropriate energy level? If you're involved in any kind of summer camp stuff, this degree of knowledge, self-insight, and BOY-EXPERTISE will probably get you promoted to camp director. Also, read Michael Gurian's WONDER OF BOYS. It's good stuff.

I have the M-D stuff in spades, (my whole family was actually in a study on the genetics of MD stuff) but I make a good living and have a lot of fun by putting the BIG ENERGY into poetry. I save it for performances, and then go off, and people applaud.

But I can't make decisions for others; you've gotta sit down with a pro for that. Make friends with some kids who've taken the drugs, and see how the different drugs (and side-effects!) work for them.


---Didaskalos