CAMHS diagnosed Emotional Dysregulation

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Hi, my DD (16) has just been diagnosed with emotional dysregulation, after 3 years of seeing CAMHS and undertaking assessments for ADHD and Autism. MY DD is also having trouble sleeping, CAMHS have also prescribed some tablets to help her sleep.

Please share your tips/guidance to help me support my DD as well as your stories of living/caring for someone diagnosed with ED. Thanks

Anyone? I’ve nc so I can openly discuss.

Shamelessly bumping

I have ED. It’s usually from trauma - did your kids go through anything? Grounding techniques are good and help when things get too overwhelming, eg touching things, deep breathing. Also building up their self esteem, give them some responsibilities and praise them for doing good job etc - but be careful it doesn’t come across patronising :/

It’s an awful illness.

Thanks for your response. I split from her dad when she was 3. He was a violent, aggressive alcoholic husband. I would have thought she would have been too young to remember any trauma as she was so young, maybe I’m wrong? Her dad came back into her life when she was 9. I’m guessing the trauma is linked to him, when I ask her she says she doesn’t think it is but then she also says she hasn’t experienced any trauma.

You say it’s an ‘awful illness’ please elaborate on this if you feel comfortable sharing.

Can I ask your age and how old you were when you got diagnosed?

Is ED the same as BPD? I’ve read conflicting information on this. Sorry for all the questions.

Basically growing up in any unhealthy environment (shouting, violence, belittling, verbal abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, bullying etc etc) will cause mental illness later in life. Everyone has a window of tolerance and “trauma” shrinks that (see photo below). Whatever the symptom is and labelled as (bpd, depression, ED, etc etc) it doesn’t really matter what it’s called, they all come back to the same cause, and same treatment - widening that “window of tolerance”.

MRI scans have actually proven that children who grow up in these unhealthy environments have a smaller, under developed amygdala- the part of the brain responsible for “fight or flight” behaviour. So they are more easily stressed out...they need to learn to self regulate better...it takes years of practice and patience.

It’s like being given broken legs and then told you have to do all the physio work yourself. You expect a “doctor” to give a pill to fix the legs, but that doesn’t work. A “therapist” is a bit like a physio teaching you ways to cope, but again unless you do the practice you will never heal. I do regular Headspace app meditations, deep breathing and am just more aware of when I’m struggling with emotional stuff...but it’s a slow learning curve, with lots of ups and downs.

Thanks for all the info and insights, I really appreciate them x