My Brain is on Fire
Lynne Warberg | Florida, United States
Photographer: Lynne Warberg
Exhibit Title: My Brain is on Fire
Location: Florida, United States
"My Brain is on Fire" is a personal project about my son, who was diagnosed with Pediatric/Juvenile Onset Bipolar Disorder, a form of bipolar disorder that occurs in children. Although he exhibited symptoms of extreme behavior and mood changes at a very young age, he was not properly diagnosed until the age of eleven. As a parent, I sought every possible cause; parenting, nutrition, seizures, vision problems? Consistently I was told by almost every Mental Health Practitioner, "We know very little about the brain", and no one was willing or able to diagnose him sooner because childhood mental illness is a very controversial issue.
These images have become an extensive archive representing a mother and son's unique view of over 20 years of heartbreak, hope, sadness, and terror and reveal how a family deals with their child's rapid cycling mood episodes. By sharing my story I hope parents who may be experiencing similar incidents, can detect the symptoms and find help so an early diagnosis can be achieved.
INTERVIEW/Lynne Warberg/REDBOOK by Elizabeth Griffin
"My Son's Battle With Bipolar Disorder"
One courageous mom is documenting her child's ordeal to help save him — and educate others.
"My son lost his childhood to mental illness," says photographer Lynne Warberg, who has spent nearly two decades documenting her son Sam's battle with his brain. As a photographer, Lynne wanted to create a record of her child's (and her own) experience, and as a mother she wanted to document what it is like for a family to deal with mental illness. "I've been doing this," she says, "so that others may better recognize and understand it."
From an early age, it was evident that Sam was experiencing very serious mental-health issues. He suffered constantly from severe mood swings, rage attacks, and other behavioral irregularities, but doctors were unsure of the root of his symptoms.
"When these problems started 18 years ago," says Lynne, "there was very little information available. I would call specialists all over the country, and they would basically say, 'We don't know that much about the brain.' They didn't even really believe a child could have a psychiatric problem like this. My son developed rages lasting over an hour on any given day, and at age 5 [he] told us that he wanted to die.
My family distanced themselves from me, unable to tolerate Sam's progressively erratic behavior. One family member even suggested I needed to 'beat the child' — they just did not understand his condition. I felt helpless and heartbroken for him."
"Depending on the doctor," says Lynne, "Sam was suffering from ADHD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, or agitated depression. These are the disorders listed for children in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), and doctors prescribe adult psychiatric medication according to the diagnosis.
My son's first psychiatric medication was an antidepressant. His mania worsened. Next, amphetamines were prescribed, but [my instincts told me to refuse them]. I was told they could help to calm the brain, but he was already so agitated, manic, and overstimulated, and I couldn't bring myself to put him on drugs like that," says Lynne. "His brain was on fire."
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