Family Turns to Facility for Help with Bipolar Son

By Michelle Trudeau

Published May 16, 2004 at 9:00 PM PDT

Last September, Morning Edition aired a story about a 9-year-old boy, Benjamin, with bipolar disorder. His moods and behaviors were unpredictable and changed rapidly throughout the day, and sometimes he was violent. Now 10, Ben is living full-time in a psychiatric facility for boys, where his treatment is designed to moderate his mood swings and teach him how to manage his own behavior. Michelle Trudeau reports.

Michelle Trudeau

Michelle Trudeau began her radio career in 1981, filing stories for NPR from Beijing and Shanghai, China, where she and her husband lived for two years. She began working as a science reporter and producer for NPR's Science Desk since 1982. Trudeau's news reports and feature stories, which cover the areas of human behavior, child development, the brain sciences, and mental health, air on NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

See stories by Michelle Trudeau