Teens and anti depressants

[forfeksake]

Hi all

I have a near 17 yr old son who has always suffered with anxiety, but for the past 5 months it has become increasingly more severe and debilitating.

He has just started CBT which I am paying for , whilst waiting for a Cahms referral, but he believes he needs medication to help him cope.

My question is can a GP prescribe medication if I take him back and he explains hes not coping, or will I have to again pay for a private psychiatrist to assess him?

Thanks for reading

Unfortunately the "rules" are clear that prescribing anti depressants for under 18's is by specialists only.
If you can I'd pay for a private psyche appt, get them to write a clear care plan and share it with gp, asking gp if they can continue to prescribe what specialist has started

Bookmarking.

My DD also suffers from terrible anxiety and PTSD from an accident she has when she was 12, and has quite severe ups and downs. She has panic attacks and basically doesn't sleep at all!! She saw a psychologist a couple of years ago which really helped, and in fact, I have just arranged for another course of psychotherapy for her, as GCSE's are coming up, and she was asking whether medication might be appropriate.

I am really anti-medication if we can avoid. She is only 16 and I just want her to be able to cope without it. We have avoided CAHMS on the advice of our GP, and go private. We paid ourselves for the first lot, and now have BUPA, who are paying for the next 10 sessions. Our GP doesn't get involved, as they have little to offer other than referrals.

Sorry didn't make it clear.. The specialist needs to share care with gp and write to gp explaining what meds, doses etc the specialist has started and asking gp to continue to provide prescriptions.
Though specialist will need to be responsible for care, follow up, adjusting dose etc

That's very helpful, thank you.

As I said, I am paying £50 an hour for a counselor to try and help with managing his anxiety, which is very specific at the moment and I am wondering if I need to take him to someone more specialised? Not sure if a psychotherapist is better than a cbt counsellor?

Thanks again.

My DS is fifteen and was prescribed antidepressants by camhs for severe anxiety.

He has asd, anxiety and depression. He has struggled since he was about 9.

It got to the point that he literally couldn't leave the house. He would stand on the threshold crying, trying to make himself step over it.

He still has quite severe depression, but camhs think he has had that for some time, but the anxiety was so bad it drowned it out.

The anxiety is much better, he goes out, does rugby and is able to attend therapy sessions at camhs, all of which he couldn't do before.

You do have to have them prescribed by a psychiatrist and then have regular medication reviews.

I know medication isn't for everyone but it has really helped my son. He still struggles with his mental health but he can go out now and that's priceless.

Under 18 they need to see a child psychiatrist, gp can refer but they will probably get you to try calms or other otc drugs first and make lifestyle changes/cbt course.

My son sees a psychologist and, in collaboration with herself, GP and us he went on anti-depressants at 17. Nobody mentioned needing to see any other specialist.

The first lot were horrific and within 2 weeks he had deteriorated drastically. Back to the GP who changed them.