Communication between teens and parents can be challenging. However, for teenagers with bipolar disorder, communication with parents is imperative to ensure that proper treatment is received by the teen. Most teens will not directly express how they feel to their parents; rather they will send subtle clues or they will confide in friends or support group members. Direct communication is not always necessary, but some form of communication is a must and this is where a blog can be a valuable tool.
To some parents, blogs - short for web logs, and also known as internet journals - are a foreign concept. Blogs are used by companies, organizations, and individuals for a variety of reasons - commentary on politics and current events, sharing information about hobbies and other topics of interest as well as keeping a personal diary. Blogs can be opened to everyone to read or password protected and only viewed by a select few.
I recommend the use of blogs for teenagers who have difficulty communicating with their parents. Teens can post entries as frequently as they like about pretty much anything:
- How they feel
- What’s going in their life
- What’s going on in school
- What they are worried about or
- Anything else that is on their mind
Free accounts are available from a number of internet sites a few of which are listed below. Personally, I have found the platform at Blogger.com to be the easiest to use. If you are worried about peers reading your thoughts, just make sure your blog is not listed in the directory or made public.
Once you have an account set up and start posting, you can either give the address of your site to your parents so they can view it on their own or you can print out entries from your journal for your parents to read. Your parents can use the information in guiding conversation, therapy, and medications changes. You can also share information in this way with your doctor.
One other note to parents: You should encourage your teen to update their blog, most especially if you think your teen is having a hard time with school, friends, medications ect., but don’t go overboard –, harass or nag. Your teen will only say as little or as much as they want revealed. Oh, and parents – you can have your own blog, too!
