Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation

05/27/2025

A new peer-reviewed study in Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica reveals a potential biologically based condition—Thermoregulatory Sleep Dysregulation Disorder (TSDD)—linked to bipolar disorder and severe mood dysregulation in children and adolescents. TSDD is also know as Fear of Harm (FOH).

Researchers found distinct patterns in how sleep and body temperature are regulated, offering powerful new insights that could transform diagnosis and treatment for young people struggling with extreme mood swings.

🔬 Read the full study:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/acps.13817?campaign=wolearlyview

Whether you’re a clinician, researcher, caregiver, or advocate, this work represents a hopeful step forward—thanks to the dedication of JBRF-supported scientists, clinicians, and families.

🌐 Learn more at www.jbrf.org

05/13/2024

An Opportunity for Deep Learning About Pediatric Bipolar Disorder and its Fear of Harm Phenotype

Join CMHRC and JBRF for a very special collaboration in this 3 seminar series with Dr. Demitri Papolos. CMHRC Executive Director Elizabeth Errico welcomes JBRF Research Director, and author of the bestselling book The Bipolar Child, Dr. Demitri Papolos for a conversation about the newly identified p...

05/02/2024

Please join us for this free and important 3-part webinar on understanding and treating the recently identified Fear of Harm (FOH) phenotype of bipolar disorder, also know at Thermoregulatory Sleep Disruption Disorder (TSDD). Click the "sign up" button below to register (registration is required).

05/02/2024

Please join us for this free and important 3-part seminar for clinicians on understanding and treating the Fear of Harm (FOH) phenotype of bipolar disorder, also known as Thermoregulatory Sleep Disruption Disorder (TSDD). Please register using the "sign up" button below.

08/31/2023

As summer draws to a close, most families anticipate the return to school with excitement and mild trepidation. The anticipation of new classes, new teachers, and time with friends, while daunting, is something parents know their children will navigate successfully. For other children, like my son Nate, who have bipolar disorder (BPD), and its subvariant condition, thermoregulatory fear of harm (FOH), this moment can be paralyzing. Past failures, academic defeats, extended periods of instability, burned bridges with peers, and misunderstood interactions with teachers present a sense of dread and barriers that seem insurmountable.

This does not have to be the case. Over the last twenty years, the Juvenile Bipolar Research Foundation has exponentially expanded our understanding of BPD and FOH and has developed treatments that are bringing a sense of peace, normalcy, and success to our children that they have never before experienced. These treatments are improving, and at times saving, the lives of so many children.

That said, we still have much more work to do: we have much more to learn and discover, we have treatments yet to be tested and developed, and we have knowledge that we desperately need to disseminate. There is still a startling lack of understanding throughout clinical circles that BPS and FOH occur in childhood, that they can be recognized as early as six years old, and that they can successfully be treated. You can help us change this.

We need your help so that we can accelerate these efforts and make a difference now.

Please visit our website to learn more, or consider making a tax-deductible gift online at www.jbrf.org

Thank you,

Jim Ayres
Executive Director

JBRF supports children and families suffering from bipolar disorder through research, education, and outreach. Learn more about JBRF

01/23/2023

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=486455823589970&set=pb.100066766703701.-2207520000.&type=3

fearofharm.jbrf.org

12/23/2022

12/09/2022

We know you've tried everything & are feeling beaten down by your child's unrelenting emotional & behavioral symptoms. JBRF is here, with groundbreaking research, online educational tools, & accessible outreach programs. www.jbrf.org

12/08/2022

As a parent are you suffering because no matter what you do to try to help your child manage their symptoms they seem not to make progress? Does asking your child to do something simple, like take a shower, result in non-stop arguing? When was the last time you were able to have a peaceful night without conflict with your child? Do you struggle to maintain discipline and order and feel like you can’t make any headway? What you need is support from experts on Fear of Harm. Those experts include the researchers who first identified Fear of Harm and its safe, effective, and affordable treatment. But other parents who live with Fear of Harm count as experts too, and you deserve to be a part of a community of family and caregivers who understand what you live with and can share with you what they know works. Learning about Fear of Harm gives you access not only to cutting-edge scientific research, it also gives you crucial information from parents and caregivers about how to manage symptoms, acting out, and how to regain balance and order in your home. If you’re ready to finally be a part of a community who’s able to give you real practical advice that works, then you’re ready to learn about Fear of Harm: https://fearofharm.jbrf.org/fearofharm.jbrf.org

12/08/2022

We all doubt ourselves and we all sometimes feel as though we don't know what to do next. But stick with it, you are enough. www.jbrf.org

12/07/2022

As a parent do you feel alone and isolated struggling with your child’s behavioral and emotional problems?
Do the people you turn to for help make you feel as though your child’s behavior must be your fault?
Do friends and family offer advice you didn’t ask for, making you feel like they think you’re a bad parent?
Well, your child’s struggles aren’t your fault and you are not a bad parent. Your child may actually suffer from a mental health issue that most people haven’t heard of yet.
It’s called Thermoregulatory Fear of Harm Mood Disorder, or just Fear of Harm for short.
Fear of Harm has really tough symptoms like mood swings, tantrums, and nightmares that continue on long after you’d think they’d stop.
Those people who criticize, and make unhelpful suggestions, don’t know what Fear of Harm is and don’t know how hard it’s been for you to live with it.
But we do, because we’ve lived it and we’ve survived it with the help of the right diagnosis and treatment.
You see, the good news is that Fear of Harm has a safe, affordable, and effective treatment. You’re already on the front lines of this disorder, now it’s time to find answers, time to find solutions that work.
It’s time to learn about Fear of Harm: https://fearofharm.jbrf.org

12/07/2022

As a parent are you exhausted by the constant struggle to get your child to follow simple instructions, to go to bed on time, and to cooperate even when things don’t go their way? Do you feel abused and beaten down by the defensive, angry, and oppositional behaviors your child shows towards you? How often do you think to yourself, “I can’t believe I let someone treat me this way!” about your child? You may not realize that these behaviors from your child, most likely, aren’t even under their control. Chances are that you and they are suffering together from the symptoms of a disorder that we’re just beginning to understand. Recently, researchers have discovered a mental health disorder called Thermoregulatory Fear of Harm Mood Disorder, or Fear of Harm for short. Fear of Harm is teaching us to look at mental health in a different way because Fear of Harm is different. In Fear of Harm there is a biological cause of the behavioral symptoms. When your child is behaving in extreme ways, chances are that they don’t actually have any control over those behaviors. But if you treat the cause of the symptoms you can help those symptoms go away. Don’t forget, just because your child is suffering at the hands of symptoms that leave them out of control doesn’t mean it’s any easier for us parents. We still experience pain, sadness, and trauma at the hands of this disorder almost as much as our children do. But you don’t have to let Fear of Harm win. You can help your child get control back, alter their behavior, and get on the path to rebuilding your relationship. If you’re ready to stop suffering, then you’re ready to learn about Fear of Harm:https://fearofharm.jbrf.org/