Deafening anger, raining insults, blows that don’t stop… and suddenly, an avalanche of hugs and apologies. From his early years, Stanislas disconcerted his parents and his big sister by his behavior out of the ordinary. Autism, dys disorders, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity? After many medical appointments and dozens of false leads, Stanislas’ mother, Laëtitia Payen, came to a surprising conclusion: her 5-year-old son suffered from bipolar disorder. A disabling mental illness, especially when it is not diagnosed, which is rare to recognize in a child.
Since then, this iconographer has become president of theassociation Bicycle, which accompanies families of children and adolescents suffering from mood disorders. After years of crises, doubts, guilt, homemade methods, readings and meetings, Laëtitia Payen wanted to tell her story in My cyclone child, the taboo of bipolar children*, which has just been published.
A track “too often excluded from the outset in France”
The objective is not to give a diagnosis, but to suggest a track “too often excluded from the outset in France to all helpless parents who have tried everything, who have searched, consulted, without finding solutions”. On the occasion of the World Bipolar Disorder Day, 20 Minutes met Laëtitia Payen to ask her a few questions on video.
She recognizes it: nothing is easy in this obstacle course. However, Stanislas was diagnosed at the age of 5. And today at 13, he is well and he is in school. But is it too early to lock a child in a box and give him medicine? “It was a relief for him, the diagnosis. He told me “it’s not me who’s bad”. The advantage of early diagnosis is to delay taking medication and give as little as possible. When we think of bipolar disorder, we immediately think of medication. However, it is the reverse. Anyway, these children will have labels and receive treatments, but often not the right ones, at high doses, with hospitalizations. And tragedies: attempted suicide for children, reports for parents and it can go as far as placement. »
That’s why she fights with her association Bicycle to support parents… and educate caregivers. “No parent wants to psychiatrize their child! Like many parents in the association, the diagnosis gave us back our freedom. It is a problem for people who do not face this disease. »
But the author reassures: “not all children who have behavioral problems are bipolar! The crisis of opposition or adolescence, it passes. In the bipolar child, not only will it not go away, but it will get worse. »
* My cyclone child, Laëtitia Payen with Catherine Siguret, Flammarion, March 16, 2022, €19.