Psychiatrist asked me to leave the room for 10 Minutes to talk to Dd

This is not mad. This is a person who wouldn't speak to unfamiliar people at all a couple of years ago, and is making a fantastic recovery on her own terms. She doesn't want to speak to the psychiatrist on her own, so she doesn't.

Just because he wants to speak to her alone, doesn't mean he has a right to. It's her decision.

My daughter started seeing her therapist at CAMHS when she was 11 (just mentioning CAMHS because this is my only experience of child-focused therapy). She wasn't alone with the therapist until she was ready to be (a year in!).

Did the therapist ask your DD if she was comfortable with you leaving the room?
It takes time for a child to establish trust in an adult, more than two hours, regardless of the lanyards and letters after that adult's name.
That's my biggest issue. Everyone rushes children to trust the 'professional'. Adults are intimidating and not easy to talk to.
I think the psychiatrist jumped the gun and should have seen your DD alongside you until your DD told you, her mother, that she is ready to do her sessions alone.

Yeah, they really shouldn't be approaching it like that! Not all psychiatrists are good at relationship building 😬

Surely the psychiatrist themselves should have wanted a chaperone too, to cover their own backs. I always thought that’s why the GP gets a chaperone in whenever they do.

I would probably have felt awkward and then realised I should have asked for a chaperone after the fact. I hope I would ask at the time, but probably would be too flustered.

I saw a psychiatrist (alone) when I was a teenager. Almost the moment the sessions started he asked if I had been sexually abused by anyone in my family. (I havent) I found it really upsetting - but also quite weird that there weren't "easier" questions to start, to build up to that IYSWIM

A psychiatrist is a doctor.

9/10 times when the parent refused to leave, they were a significant part of the problem that had brought the child to psychology, or they were afraid the child would disclose something they didn't want us to know. Just saying.

Children are more likely to be harmed by people they already know and trust than strangers.

Speechless

No, not necessarily in such situations

This was my experience with my son and his counsellor when he was 9. He made so much progress once I left. He needed that safe relationship away from me and to have someone to talk to. I guess in the first few sessions I built a relationship too.

It’s fine. My DD (16) has been unwell for a few years, they are doing a referral but asked if she can come alone. I felt a bit annoyed at this, wondering what they were suggesting but realised it’s pretty normal. At 6 it seems young, but some children are abused and obviously kids won’t speak out in front of parents.

Lets not ignore the fact that the majority of perpetrators are male.

I would see it as a red flag if a parent didn’t want to leave a child alone in this situation. If you are worried about it, then maybe ask for 2 people to be in the room while you go outside.

so glad pp have mentioned Pans/pandas as this illness frankly ruined 2yrs of my dd life whilst the NHS ( who I do love and appreciate) insisted it was a purely MH issue rather than listening properly to our concerns and requests for consideration re Pans/pandas. After numerous crisis incidents, frequent inpatient stays, antidepressants and propranolol prescribed to an 8yr old and extensive SS intervention from CWD team we took out a credit card and paid privately for a second opinion.

She was diagnosed promptly and started treatment. It was a long road back to full health but we saw immediate benefits in treatment. I’m not sure I’ll ever fully recover from it frankly it was traumatising for her and us alike so I’m glad you’re getting support and consideration early on :)

Not a chance I'd consent to that. I wouldn't trust any stranger alone with my child, regardless of their profession. We've seen enough awful people working in healthcare on the news in the last couple of years to make me even more sure of that decision.

@Nomoreicecreamnow my dd has recently started seeing a psychotherapist (she is 11 though) and for exactly the same reasons as your dd. Her first session I stayed with her the full hour but at the end of the session I was asked if she could attend all remaining sessions by herself. I was ok with this as I think she’ll get more out of my dd if I’m not there but yes, from a safeguarding perspective I think that would be the reason she asked to speak to her by herself for ten minutes.

You mentioned the issues started after your child had been ill. Did the illness require antibiotics? If so please introduce prebiotics and ways to increase good bacteria in her gut as the antibiotic use could be partly responsible for her behaviour change.

Of course it's normal, I would be comfortable with female or male doctor

This is mad, your Dd is 17 she needs to be seen alone, why are you speaking for her ? To me this is far more worrying than whether a 6 yo is seen alone or not ( I start seeing children alone from around 10, I am not perscriptive about it, but by 17 I would expect the parent waited outside).

It’s a psych appointment of course they’re going to explore issues without you there as your child may not be comfortable saying things in front of you (or at least in some cases this may be true and they need to explore this). Or I’d imagine in some cases the parent(s) may be part of the problem hence confidential chats required. Psychiatrists are Doctors it’s not as though it’s a random therapist with six months training and possibly minimal checks you’re leaving your child alone with.

Try your kid on some probiotics. I had some gut issues recently and my anxiety went through the roof. I had read vaguely about there being a connection but wouldn’t have believed it until I experienced it

My kids saw several at this age. It was so hard finding one they'd talk to. Always saw the person alone for the majority of the appointment.

I wanted to echo to please look into PANDAS.

safeguarding in schools, sports, hobby activities etc tell adults not to be alone with a single child. Professionals should absolutely be at the same bar

This is simply not true. School staff are frequently alone with a single child.

???

Errr - psychiatrists are "doctors"*...

Or at least they are in the UK. (I note the OP has said that they aren't in the UK).

Of course it might be that the OP is confused and has taken their child to a clinical psychologist or other (qualified or unqualified) therapist and not a psychiatrist - or clinical psychologist.

There are very vaild safeguarding reasons why any clinician might want to speak to the child separately from the parent.

*In the UK a clinical psychologist is more likely to have a doctorate qualification than a "medical doctor" - but lets not get into that...