Child on antidepressants

[lolabo]

Hi,

Does anyone else have a younger child prescribed antidepressants? DD7 was prescribed them recently, feeling a bit alone with it all as it's been impossible finding anyone with such a young child taking them 😕so if anyone wants to join to just support each other a bit please feel free!

Maybe if you know the reason you could reach out to specific groups?

DD7 means a 7 year old? A 7 year old prescribed antidepressants.. I've never heard of them being offered for that young. Very odd. Is this from a private psychiatrist?

Thankyou- I have tried, I'm finding we don't currently fit into a specific group as such as there's a lot of issues all feeding into one another. I'm also feeling huge amount of guilt and I suppose struggling to accept so hesitant posting on Facebook groups- at least on here everyone is anonymous, whereas I feel awful posting anon on FB while expecting others to reply openly!

Yes, 7 😞 and not privately, via NHS mental health services

I work in mental health and have never heard of such a young child on ADs. Can I ask if she is also undergoing therapy?

She's had over a year of play therapy, various other interventions prior to that too, she is ND and hasn't been able to engage in anything like CBT, however she doesnt appear to care if she's alive or not so they've gone for medication hoping it gets her to a point of being able to engage

My DS started on fluoxetine aged 11, via NHS CAMHS. It's helped him a lot, he was barely functioning before it. Also ND, and struggles to verbalise emotions. It's a scary decision to make, and I won't claim it's fixed everything - but it got him to a place where he could go out, and has recently (now aged 13) started doing two days a week at an alternative provision, which he couldn't have done before the meds. I hope you're ok. Do you have a partner/good friend you can talk about it with?

My DS started fluoxetine aged 8. He's 11 now and still on it. He still suffers with bad anxiety. He has ASC, ARFID, SPD and suspected ADHD.
It's a hard decision to put your child on ADs, we struggled with it, but it has helped in some ways. He is out of crisis now, still not able to attend school though.

I’m sure it was a very well
considered decision from the professionals supporting you. As other posters have said, medication can be useful for a short time. Has family therapy been considered as she is so young?

This sounds very similar to us, trying not to get my hopes up that it will work miracles and that life could return to somewhat normal

I'm not sure whether it has actually, I've done various courses and the likes around her specific needs but they've never specifically mentioned family therapy

@lolabo I am so sorry you are going through this. It's so hard. My son doesn't leave the house, so I had to leave my job and have become agoraphobic myself. He's hopefully starting at an alternative provision after half term but I'm so scared to push him, as I don't want to go back to where we were. I am definitely carrying trauma from when he was in full crisis.
He literally couldn't move from his bed sometimes because he felt travel sick just moving. He wasn't sleeping until 4am every night, was in with me and it was eventually just exhaustion that made him fall asleep in the end. This, of course, meant that I wasn't sleeping either.
His sleeping pattern is returning to that a little at the moment, which is worrying.
He was supposed to start secondary school this year, and watching all his peers become more independent is heartbreaking.
I honestly don't know what the future holds for him, he is so far behind academically, and has no desire to learn.
I'm here if you need to chat.