what's typical?/Re: question regarding sudden mood changes.

[Guest guest]

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> I often find her " meanness " with other kids can be a defense

> mechanism. She is often worried about what others will think of her

> and I have noticed her with her cousins to have a negative attitude

> and then once things are going smoothly and everyone is getting

> along, she changes her mood and plays happily.

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> Anyone with similar experiences or opinions?

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To me, this is not unusual at all. My son can go from happy, playful

to what he describes as " snappish " in a blink of an eye. Does that

make him abnormal, categorical, or (some might say) bipolar? I think

not. Not when there are specific circumstances that prompted it.

Granted, the average person would not see the circumstances as

anything to prompt such mood changes, but the average person doesn't

have a clue as to what makes my son tick (or ticked off). And once

he's mad about something, it can quickly affect his outlook on just

about everything else at that moment. The challenge is helping him

find a way to cope and adjust to the " real " world, whatever that is.

cat