Jennifer

I am Donna and Mari hit a lot of it on the head.

The thing is that a bipolar child doesn't have a clue that they are doing a lot of the things they are. You and a lot of society are sure that she is doing this because she wants to manipulate you. But she isn't, she really has no clue that she is doing it.

First, go out to a local library and see if they have the book that Mari suggested, its very good. There are some others that are very good too.
I'm going to do some research and see if I can locate there names.

Next, besides a psychiatrist, she also needs a psychologist to show her how
to work with her disorder. And to work through her mood swings, and you too. So please find a good children's psychologist that knows a lot about bipolar disorder. And do me another favor see if you can locate a support group that is for either mental health or bipolar in particular for parents of kids. This is what will do you the most good. It will be other parents that
have gone through the same things.

And also see if there is a local NAMI group. They have many different groups,
and they do lots of trainings.

Now also it might do you both some real good after she has done some individual therapy for you to do some family therapy.

And there is no such thing as a brat or a bad child. YOu have a very high spirited child. So go with it and continue asking and looking for help.

Also we have a child health area, that is a little more active, please come post there too.

Donna