So my 16 year old daughter has a Video Call with her newish psychiatrist.
She hates it and wants me to join for the next call. The session is for her anxiety. The woman is trying meditation techniques for my girl, and it isn’t working out. The doctor is also getting her to supposedly bring up or confront lousy moments from her life that stress her out.
My daughter tells me that she is more stressed out AFTER the Video Calls than ever before. She wants me in on the next call with her and her doctor.
Not a tip for the video call, but I recommend trying out the app headspace. It’s a great app with free basic breathing exercises, and if she wants to, there is more content to listen to and watch. Recommending as someone who has suffered with anxiety and agoraphobia since my teens.
I think the issue is my daughter feels like she is being treated as some kind of ‘extreme’ case…when she said she’s just a normal teen with normal teenage worries.
Starlet always wanted me in therapy calls with him. Until he found a therapist he actually liked. Now he can have me wait outside without a fuss. I would recommend having her ask the therapist before joining the call. Kids need their privacy, but they also sometimes feel safer with parents around. Do you talk to her openly about your own therapy, so she knows what is normal therapy and what is a sign her therapist sucks?
She’s getting really upset. The doctor is like “Are you being sexually abused? We can take you out of that situation if you are.”
I know the doctors have to ask these types of questions…I understand that. But my daughter just feels as if the psychiatrists are making mountains out of molehills with respect to her mental well being.
So I’m listening to my girl’s concerns, and I’m actually agreeing with her.
I know things are different in Canada, but can you ask her to be moved to a different therapist? Sometimes therapists just aren’t a good fit for people. Nothing against them, just they don’t click.
Both of my daughters are diagnosed with ARFID. It stands for “Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder.”
With food they have trouble with taste, texture, presentation…etc. One weighs 115lbs…the other 107lbs. Their height is normal. They are both on fluoxitine and olanzapine for their condition.
The doctor who is treating them for this affliction recommended my daughter get extra help from this new psychiatrist for her worrying. But the whole thing is just stressing my girl out even more.
I’m thinking we should just scrap the whole thing and my girl would feel better.
They do that here in England as well. I have to be careful what I say to these people, as I have a very blunt way of putting things, and use a lot of extreme language when I describe things - and that scares the ■■■■ out of some people
My mother comes on all my appointments too. She remembers things better than I do, and if I have questions she can tell me about the context of it all. Very reassuring having a family member attend, as these doctors need to know they’re going to have to behave themselves if they have an audience.
Therapy can be damaging if it’s not done properly.
