Jeffrey the Lionhearted

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The Story of a Boy Who Learns About Childhood-onset Bipolar Disorder

The idea for this book arose over the course of the past decade through each new encounter with a child and their family who struggle with bipolar disorder. It is not an easy task to try to convey to a young child the nature of the intense feelings they experience and the disruptive behaviors that accompany them. To help these children understand that they are not alone, and that there are many other children in the world who carry the awful burden of this condition is an important part of the treatment process. It also helps to know that many of the behaviors that emerge that can lead to feelings of shame, self-recrimination, are not voluntary but rather part of a syndrome that affects many systems of the brain that regulate basic human drives and emotions.

Jeffrey the Lionhearted is about such a child. A child who experiences many of the symptoms of the condition that we now know constitute one of the most common and debilitating subtypes of the illness, termed Fear of Harm.

Endorsements

Finally a book that explains what it feels like to have bipolar disorder from a youngster’s perspective. Demitri Papolos gets inside the mind of Jeffrey, a boy who has uncontrollable outbursts of rage. Through medication, a supportive family, and a doctor who listens, Jeffrey learns how to live with his illness. A must have for parents and children coping with bipolar disorder. — David J. Miklowitz, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, UCLA Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior

This truly wonderful book speaks from “the inside”, and describes the bipolar child’s inner emotional life with clarity, while at the same time it illustrates the major symptoms of the disorder. Parents will gain a concrete understanding of the disorder from a family perspective. Professionals and educators will be rewarded with an emotionally rich understanding of what this disorder is all about from the inside out. — Ira Glovinsky, Ph.D., The Glovinsky Center for Children and Families, Author, Bipolar Patterns in Children: New Perspectives on Developmental Pathways

Review

Parents of children with childhood-onset bipolar disorder will celebrate the release of Jeffrey the Lionhearted by one of the world’s leading authorities on the illness. Children rarely have words to describe what they are feeling so powerfully inside. Jeffrey’s story provides parents with insight into the internal world of a child with bipolar disorder so that he or she feels less isolated and alone. Written in a style intended to engage the child’s interest and diminish shame and the threat of self-disclosure, Jeffrey’s story prompts the child to reveal mood states, fears, angry and aggressive thoughts, that he or she may ordinarily be afraid to talk about with the parent and clinician. The illustrations by Gianna Pergamo bring Jeffrey’s story to life, and allow the child with bipolar disorder to see him or herself as they identify with Jeffrey’s internal world and outsized behaviors. While the book explains some of the most serious aspects of this pernicious and poorly understood illness of childhood, it also offers hope.

Written in a way that children can relate to, the language and descriptions of common symptoms enable the child to easily find common ground with Jeffrey and the problems he faces. It is a wonderful resource and educational tool for parents, therapists, physicians and educators - a must have book for anyone who works with or cares for a child with juvenile-onset bipolar disorder.