In mid August, Vince had a blood pressure test as part of his fitness program at his gym. It was very high. He had never had high blood pressure in his life. Identifying this high blood pressure started a series of doctor visits, which also revealed very low potassium levels in his blood. He was prescribed blood pressure pills. All of this was very unusual since Vince had never had a serious illness in his life-the only time he had ever been hospitalized was his birth.

During August, Vince began to display another behavioral symptom-he talked incessantly. No one could get a word in edgewise during a conversation. I began wondering if these behavioral symptoms could be clustered as manic. Mania is an emotional state that can include the symptoms of very high-energy behavior, insomnia, and rapid speech.

More emotional symptoms emerged. The week Vince was to return to Susquehanna to begin his sophomore year, he had a series of panic attacks. I had never seen a panic attack before. I didn't even know what one was. Vince later described them as a period of intense terror, which lasted for 10-20 minutes. He said to envision someone with a loaded gun to your head who says, " In five seconds, I'm going to blow your brains out; one, two, three…" I could see the fear in his eyes as he explained it. That look is one any parent dreads seeing in the eyes of his children. His behavior during these attacks was scary, especially for Debbie. Vince would shout and rant; we were afraid he might hurt someone.

We immediately brought Vince to a reputable psychiatrist two days before his scheduled return to school . He was diagnosed as bi-polar( formerly called manic-depressive). For some reason , even though he did have the classic symptoms, I questioned this diagnosis. Bi-polar is a disease which results in an emotional condition that cycles between highs (manic periods) and lows( depressed periods). This condition results from brain chemistry dysfunction. Vince was prescribed lithium, a common and proven medication to control this illness.