Psychosis and young teenager

[Coconuttree]

My dd has been diagnosed of psychosis. Dd has been very stressed in the last few weeks. The hospital has kept her for a few days. I m now feeling so guilty and worried. Just don’t know what to expect! Would anyone share their experience with me.

It's very positive that it's getting treated early, i was psychotic from age 13 was admitted to a psychiatric hospital at age 15 but wrongly diagnosed with ptsd which meant I didn't go back for help until I was 21 when I was re diagnosed, by which time it was hard to let go of the psychosis as it had been with me for so long.

Medication is hard to tolerate so cut dd some slack for a couple of months. Getting early treatment really does have a much more positive outlook.

Is it a treatable condition?

You can expect improvement but recovery can be a complicated journey. I recommend looking up her condition/s on charity website such as Mind and Rethink Mental Illness for simple to understand facts.

Take your time with her and always try to remember not only is it not personal but to her these things are real and she is feeling all the emotions that she would feel if you were trying to kill her.

It is treatable but psychosis rarely goes away. Unless it's a one off psychotic episode usually caused by a stressful traumatic event. I suffer psychosis daily I take anti psychotics at 10 every night then I get no psychosis until 8 the next night when my meds wear of and I experience symptoms until my new meds are working at 11, but now I'm so used to it you wouldn't know unless you know me well.

Psychosis is very treatable, although as pp have explained often recurs. It can depend on the trigger though drug induced psychosis may remain a one off event if the individual never again engages in drug use- so it is important you understand the context of her becoming unwell.

Do you kow long will she be in hospital for op? It is the best place for her to start to receive treatment. Best of luck.

Dd should come out tomorrow. We always thought she is a little different to most kids. Only now it became more obvious. I had been trying to convince the school to have her checked since year 7 but her tutor believed it was just a common teenager problem.

Have they given a more in depth diagnosis op other than psychosis?

They are still doing further diagnosis. Just worried about her future.

They are letting her out while she still believes you're trying to kill her? That's incredibly stressful for both of you. Shouldn't she stay there until her meds are sorted?

That's hard how has her mood been with her psychosis?

Don’t know. That s the plan at the moment. I would rather she stay in hospital for longer to give me a chance to sort out my mind.

You can request that she stay in longer I believe.

I will try. As the hospital is not as busy atm because of the coronavirus. I it will be good for all of us to have a longer break.

I would ask about that for her sake as much as your own. It would be terrifying for her to live with you if she thought you were going to kill her. She could attack or even kill you if she felt under such threat. It's not fair on her that she should have to cope with that - obviously it's not fair on you, either.

I will ask about that first. But the hospital doesn’t think she will harm anyone.

You can request a mental health act assessment (by different doctors to the ones you've met) as her next of kin. They are statistically much more likely to air on the side of caution and keep her in. Do push for what you feel is best x

It's early days in your DD treatment, it's hard to say how much it will impact her until her symptoms are unravelled and a working diagnosis is found.

It takes time to find the right diagnosis for now focus on improving her symptoms and distress levels/quality of life as well as looking at what support can be put in place. Don't forget to take care of yourself too.

DB has a condition where he has had psychosis. The main advice I would give is, when/if they are talking about what they believe is real, and you know it isn't, try not to, for example, say you know that's not true etc. Instead say more, it must feel scary to think that, or is there anything I can do to help. I wish I had known to say this much earlier! It scared me, the psychosis, I guess.

The other thing that is key to recovery is insight. How much your DD can understand about what keeps her well, what the triggers are, what she/you will do if she becomes unwell again in future. Baby steps.

Thanks ladies, we have started working with the doctors and social services. I m sure the lockdown has escalated her anxiety and brought it up onto the surface. Hope this is more a blessing in disguise.

Hi OP, I hope you are having a positive experience of working with support services and good news that you have a diagnosis but can I ask how that diagnosis came about?

How old is DD and was this done through CAMHS or adult mental health services, through GP or psychiatrist?

I ask as my DD17 is told she has mild depression but no one at CAMHS will listen to her (or me) and I think its something much more serious so I want to see how I can pursue a review for her. TIA

Dishingoutdone my two dc have diagnosis with dd1 who has severe asd I didn't have to push at all but with dis who has ADHD and Attachment Anxiety Disorder I had to really push and it wasn't until he was expelled from school that I was taken seriously.

Just keep fighting and keep on pushing and document everything.

My dd was too desperate for help. She refused to leave the surgery until a specialist GP and people from CAMHS to come to see her.

It s impossible to convince people that my dd needed help as she was coping very well on the outside but just took it all out on me at home. Everyone I spoke to they just put it down as a teenager thing. But the teenager stuff was just half of her problem. In fact I m very proud of her for that she kept pushing for help until she was listened to.