Mickayla Reppenhagen has been diagnosed withschizoaffective disorder, a condition that falls on the severe end of the bipolar spectrum and causes mood swings — from deep depression to days of sleepless energy — and occasional hallucinations. Her mother said she always found the frank conversations "gave the teachers the knowledge to know this is why she's behaving this way" and helped the school give her daughter the help she needed.
But the Elsie mother said she also knows parents who won't get their children antidepressants because they don't want the pharmacist to know.
"Stigma is really kind of our worst enemy in mental health," said Krissy Dristy, a statewide youth peer support coordinator for the Association for Children's Mental Health, who has struggled herself with anxiety and depression.