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Post by momof3girls on Apr 29, 2014 8:38:40 GMT -5
I was a member here for some years (back to the Schwab days). My daughter is now 19 and still experiences issues. She graduated high school and is not in school or working right now. She has severe anxiety. Our current issue is that she's been dealing with certain anxieties, or situations causing her stress and it has led to suicidal ideations. No plans, just thoughts, and those thoughts terrify her. She still goes to a child psychiatrist, she is quite immature. Well, they don't take emergencies. You have to go to the ER, and I'm not doing that. We did that in haste in the past and it was horrific because she cannot sleep away from home. They suddenly want her to see an adult therapist and switch everything around because of her age, and I believe this would just upset her more. Plus we are Christians and she mentioned about wanting to see a Christian counselor. Any ideas?
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Post by jisp on Apr 29, 2014 8:57:51 GMT -5
I am so sorry to hear that your daughter is struggling right now and that anxiety has prevented her from moving on with her life. I am not sure I understand a psychiatrist that does not handle emergencies. Most psychiatrists will have a pager number that patients can call and will work with parents and the patient closely to determine if the child needs inpatient care or needs a more intensive day hospital program. It sounds like you might need to seek out a new treatment team for your daughter that is wiling to work more collaboratively with you and your daughter to figure out a treatment plan so she can start making progress and move on with her life. I recommend that you check out The Balanced Mind www.thebalancedmind.org, which has now partnered with the Depression and Bipolar alliance so we can offer a continuum of services as teens transition into adulthood. Your daughter can and will overcome this (you have to believe that she will) but it will take work and patience and the appropriate treatment team to assist you moving forward. Most young adults can make progress in this area with a combination of medication, psychotherapy and behavioral/cognitive therapy. DBT (Didactical Behavioral Therapy) is particularly successful for girls dealing with anxiety. |
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Post by healthy11 on Apr 29, 2014 20:33:47 GMT -5
In response to your last sentence, I know that there are many variations in terms of Christian Houses of Worship... Some churches have ministries that include pastoral care or social workers or a similar counselor. While I doubt many churches have anyone on staff with adequate training to deal with the anxiety issues like your daughter has, they may be able to give you references to other experienced and appropriately trained professionals.
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Post by kewpie on Apr 30, 2014 9:42:11 GMT -5
>Plus we are Christians and she mentioned about wanting to see a Christian counselor. Any ideas?<
I would let the "Christian" issue fall by the wayside. You want the professional who is best qualified to work with your daughter in a case like this. This not a simple issue like career counseling. Suicide is very serious business.
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Post by kewpie on May 1, 2014 9:14:42 GMT -5
Dear Momof3girls,
This is from another Mom who was unable to access this site
Hi, I am new to this site. My friend sent me the link because I had a son who had a learning disability with anxiety issues and 3 years ago he committed suicide when he was 18 years old.
1) Have your daughter make an “action plan” for what can she do when she gets so anxious that she is contemplating suicide. Write this plan out and she can carry it with her if she needs..but define what things will help.
A) Top of the list: Phone number for National Suicide Prevention Hotline 1-800-273-TALK. This is available 24/7 and she can talk with someone RIGHT NOW…. (they also have a website)
B) Call her friend Mary/mom/dad..but list several choices as when a crisis is happening someone may not be available right at that moment
C) What things help calm her? (that can be done anywhere at anytime)
D) I would list 4-5 things or more on her plan, so she has several choices of what to do when the anxiety is overwhelming.
2) I recommend that you speak with her current counselor and ask if there is someone they recommend, as she does need to get involved with an adult counselor/psychologist. Maybe that counselor could do a dual session with the new person to help alleviate the transition anxiety?
3) Has medication helped to keep her anxiety under control? Are their triggers that make it worse? Does she take melatonin for sleep? Sometimes Melatonin can make anxiety worse for some individuals.
4) Why is she feeling this way, is she able to verbalize this to you? Can she talk to you about it? Even if she can talk to you about it, you probably need to see someone yourself to help know you how to respond to her to be helpful. Call the National Suicide Prevention Foundation as well, just to get more information for you.
5) Has she mentioned how she may do this? If she mentioned taking pills, you need to lock up your pills and only have a small amount in the house for use..so if she did take them it is not an overdose amount. Has she mentioned hurting herself, if that is the case you need try to remove the thing she wants to use so the ease of following through is less likely.
Seeing your child suffer this much to contemplate suicide is so very, very hard. you feel so helpless. My thoughts are with you and your family. You may contact me at kfinck@daktel.com
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Post by healthy11 on May 1, 2014 10:32:15 GMT -5
kewpie, thank you for posting on behalf of your friend. I hope she is able to access our site in the future, because her insights are most appreciated. Please express our condolences, as well as gratitude for her willingness to turn her personal loss into a positive force and willingness to help others.
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Post by empeg1 on May 3, 2014 15:21:02 GMT -5
If your daughter cannot take medication or she has a poor response to the above, I have a suggestion. My 21 year old has GAD. Last summer, she worked with a neuropsychologist and neurofeedback. Not only did she sleep through the night for the first time in 20 years, but she experienced a significant decrease in anxiety. BTW, research on neurofeedback at the Trauma Center in Mass. has been ongoing for a long time. A new book on the topic is out with a lot of data to support effect of neurofeedback on calming the brain. Peg
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Post by mamak on May 6, 2014 18:04:39 GMT -5
Kewpie gave some great info. When my daughter was having anxiety and depression we went to a psychologist. My daughter did not respond to her and thought she was phony and not too bright. We went to a psychyitrist (sp?) and she was not listening to my daughter, doped her up with some crazy meds that made her worse ignoring her ADHD dx and acting like she knew better than anyone. When she finally did prescribe for ADHD she failed to lower her depression medications which made her worse. My daughter just dropped cold turkey on all the medications without telling us and that made here very unstable.
I began searching for help outside of my insurance list because I thought I was losing her and I was very scared. Found a really smart doctor who only treated teens to 25 year olds. My daughter was very impressed with her because she was so bright and understood her. She also provided online services and prescriptions when she went to college out of town. I would highly recommend this Dr. for any young adult if you live in so cal which you probably don't but what I would do is seek out a person who specializes in adolescents and young adults. Do not give up on seeking the right person(s) to treat your daughter it may take a few tries. If she can't relate to the help she won't benefit from it.
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