Dante was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Aim Higher, Inc., an organization that provides disability services, hastily assessed Dante with a standard questionnaire, asking him vague questions such as, “Does he/she display aggressive behaviors?” From his answers, a list of possible diagnoses was computed. From the list of possibilities, it was then decided by a licensed doctor that Dante was bipolar — just like that.
Upon receiving Dante’s case, counselors at the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice determined his bipolar diagnosis to be inaccurate. Staff found that he was not actually bipolar — but that he was acting out as a result of traumatic experiences in his life.
Dante’s story is similar to that of many young people in the justice system. Many are deemed to have mental disabilities as a result of inadequate screening and the lack of responsive programming. Bipolar disorder diagnoses in particular have increased by 40 times among all youth, outpacing diagnoses among adults, in the last 10 years.
[For more of this story, written by Lauren Barretto, go to http://youthtoday.org/2015/08/...tal-health-services/]
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