My 12 year old DD has been, up to a couple of months ago, an extremely happy, sociable, girl. I have never had to tell her off, pull her up on anything, she is just amazing really. But a few months ago I discovered that she has been cutting herself. We had a long chat and she told me that she's been hanging out with girls a couple of years older than her in school, girls who seem to all display some kind of dysfunctional behaviour. I put it down to her following the older girls and things seemed to improve. Until a couple of weeks ago when we found out she'd had a sleep over at a friend's house and they stole alcohol from our house and weed from the friend's parents. She reacted very badly when we found out and said she did it because she doesn't care and just wants to die. We dealt with that incident, she was grounded for a week. i thought things were improving again but made an appointment with GP to be on the safe side. GP has referred her to CAMHS, but last week she took 4 dihydracodeine tablets, not enough to do any harm but enough for us to see it's a cry for help. So, took her to A&E which has speeded up her CAMHS referral (we're seeing them in a couple of days). This weekend she was up and down like a yo-yo. She says she's hearing voices that make her do destructive things to herself.
I am desperate for advice on how to manage it in the home. I have a 15 year old DS and it's taking over everything, which isn't fair on anyone. I am terrified to leave her alone incase she does something that will really hurt her but I don't want to let her wallow in it all. I'm trying to motivate her to get involved in things around the home, simple things like helping me cook supper, play a board game with her, just anything that will occupy her mind so she isn't getting mixed up in her own thoughts and anxieties.
But I'm finding it so upsetting to see my DD who seems to be a different person than the one she's always been...I just want her to be happy.
Has anyone been through anything similar? Can anyone offer any advice?
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Child mental health
12 year old DD - Depression, self harm, suicidal thoughts, how do we cope as a family to help her?
8 replies
SMJP · 30/04/2012 11:48
OP posts:
mindfulmum ·
11/05/2012 06:07
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