When you have children with mood disorders there are ways to help handle difficult situations. I was working with a mother who had a daughter that began to have terrible tantrums. The child would throw a fit and become extremely angry. In the beginning, the mother would yell and demand that the child must calm down.

This led to fighting and the youngster became even more enraged. It was clear that there would be better ways to handle the outbursts. We worked together on the child learning how to express anger in a positive way. The child is taught to yell alone in their room, hit a pillow to let out rage, and to write down why she is upset.

The mother also learned to let her daughter have space. She understands that her child may have a mood disorder which is causing the child to explode. When they work together it ends up improving the outcome and lessen the severity of the situation. The mom now takes a few minutes to let her gain her composure before responding. They also talk about what happened and the mother shares that she forgives her for the behavior.

They also have time each day to share about feelings. The daughter admitted that she felt her mom is not giving her enough attention and that school finishing has been a hard transition. They also grow their relationship by the mom having the patience to listen and support her daughter. They have become happier, more connected and improved the way both handle complex feelings.