My late mother was bipolar, undiagnosed till she was in her late 60s. I used to think how different her life would have been had she received help during adolescence. Of course, as this documentary ably demonstrates she’d have had to have been born in America within the last twenty years, had alert, caring parents, lived in an area with savvy pediatricians and an enlightened school district, etc. etc, to have had a prayer. It’s a complicated diagnosis, treatment is by experiment and feel, the strain on family members intense, and the prognosis uncertain. I remember my mother saying she’d give anything just to know what it felt like to be “normal.” Listening to these three young people struggle to hold onto themselves, I understood even more of what she went through. There’s a good range of professionals interviewed (though a couple of them are so dry I had to pinch myself to pay attention). It’s the kids and moms at the heart of the report who move you. The strain, fear, anger, hope touched me, and there’s much useful and interesting information to contemplate. Adolescence is a hard enough stretch for kids and parents to navigate. Mental illness makes the journey endlessly more treacherous. Highly recommend as health or youth-related programming.