To wonder how I could have responded better to this troubled teen?

[UpsyDaisy123]

I'm a teacher. Today a 15 year-old pupil told me she is worried that she has Munchausen's syndrome and that, once she is an adult, she will feel the need to feign illness all the time to get attention. This was a genuine concern and she appeared very affected by it.

I don't feel I handled this very well and am wondering how others would have responded? What on earth do you say to something like that.

Yes but by searching your previous posts OP if I knew you Incould figure out who you are.

I am not being a GF I am genuinely concerned that this is not the appropriate forum to discuss this.

Pandora, thank you. That is just the kind of response I was looking for. It's really good to hear that you have been able to move on from this as an adult.

What I actually did say was to point out that she could be doing that now if she really wanted to, getting her mum to take round all different doctors, etc. Yet she's NOT choosing to do that currently. I'm not sure how helpful that response really was though.

This sounds like me.

I have a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder. It often begins in teenagehood IIRC.

I would check what support she has currently and keep praising her, helping her to get her identity from other places. Is she under CAMHS? There is also childline and young minds.

It took fucking years of therapy for me to stop doing or saying stuff for attention. I don't wish that for anyone.

Caulkhead, I support you in solidarity x

Crowd, I can't say any more here but there are some good reasons why I am better protected than I appear.

I do appreciate your concerns though.

I would have told her that if she has concerns over her health she should talk to her GP and asked if she wanted me to get the school counsellor to talk to her, or if she wanted us to talk to her parent about it together.

Basically you can't dismiss her worries or take responsibility for sorting them.

I xposted with you.

It's easy to know there is support available but if you know that by accessing that you will lose the attention you have/want then why would you bother?

In that situation the important adults are the ones who are not over reacting and that their response is the same regardless of what they are told.

Sorry I wish now that I'd worded this differently.

Caulkhead, what response would have been helpful to you at that age do you think? There has already been a lot of 'help' from appropriate channels but it doesn't appear to have helped much and now it seems that everyone is just despairing and not really knowing quite what to do.

do you mind if I PM you so as not my out myself?

Of course no Caulkhead. Go ahead.