Sertraline for 12 year old.

[WishfulThinkingToday]

My DD is going through a critical period of mental health (severe depression, self-harm, suicide ideation, PTSD, OCD and neurodivergence), and we had a conversation this morning with a psychiatrist who recommended Sertraline (and counselling).

I am worried about her suicide ideation and it getting worse.

Has anyone had a child take Sertraline? Is it effective?

Sertraline has been very helpful for my son , ASD. OCD.

It worked pretty quickly to raise his low mood and he found there was very little in the way of side effects. He was about 14 when he began taking them .

I think the councilling will be more useful if she's feeling calmer and less down . It's worth giving it a try .

Anti depressants are designed to be used short term, for those with extreme feelings of depression and especially those with suicidal tendencies.

I hate anti-depressants for many reasons, but I think in your daughter's case it's a good call. Just don't keep her on them for longer than needed. Get her into therapy as soon as you can. Good luck

Has she tried any meds for
adhd if that is the ND? My dd ended up on both but the stimulant meds for ADHD have had a hugely postive impact it’s like a switch goes on in her mind, coupled with lifestyle changes. She is still on setraline after two years but I’m hoping we can wean her off those longer term.

I’ve realised recently with my 11yr old DD, that the more she’s indoors on a screen, the more her anxiety/intrusive thoughts occur. As soon as she’s outdoors, it’s like someone flipped a switch and put her back to being the giggly, silly and fun loving girl she’s always been. If she’s spent a higher than usual amount of time out of the house one week, then she’s back to happy & giggling and vice versa. Yet it’s not that she’s ever said that being indoors is something she dislikes - quite the opposite in fact! Sometimes I have to drag her out! Yet she lights up once she’s out, so in DD’s case, it’s definitely subconscious.

However….. I myself have been on either an SSRI or SNRI (not much difference tbh) since I was 17 and I would go to the ends of the earth to find any other solution for DD before putting her on either of the above as I know what a life sentence they can be. Don’t get me wrong, once I found the one which helped me best, it’s been amazing and made a huge difference to me as an adult. However coming off them is no ball game… I’m currently trying to reduce mine due to side effects and having to go 5mg at a time with daily phone calls from the GP’s in-house clinical pharmacist and a pre-arrangement for emergency care for any adverse withdrawal effects; like I said, it’s no joke! SSRIs are not simple and my GP has told me a few times that some people never manage to come off them.

Thank you all for the replies - it is such a difficult decision, because I myself have been on Sertraline for 6 months, and it felt like it just made me numb. I stopped quite quickly. So we are really thinking about this serious step.

I am just worried at she will be using these for life, but I know she is going through a horrible time at the moment. The self-harm didn't stop, even when I took all the sharps away (sharps / medicines / poisons / and bath plug) she told the psychiatrist she is using non-sharp objects and friction to cause harm now. She needs help, and medication and counselling might be the only way forward.

Can I ask what you did? I have been prescribed sertraline for my daughter with a very similar profile and so scared to start her on it!

It is really difficult to decide what to do. We are speaking to our GP this week to get another opinion, but I feel like we will probably try Sertraline. I don’t think that CBT will solve these problems alone and she really needs help.

It is such an awful thing to go through. Sending warm wishes to you and your daughter.

Thanks for the reply.

The psychiatrist said to us today that the ocd and anxiety is too high for my daughter to be able to engage in any therapy- cbt/ erp. She said the exposures could make her worse at the moment and the medication will bring her anxiety down so that she can engage properly. It did make sense.

I can see the ocd compulsions getting worse every few days so do thing we need something. I am planning to start her tomorrow on a very low dose.

Best of luck with things and hope the GP is helpful. It is so awful feeling so helpless for your child. Wish we could take it all away for them x

CBT is only the first recommended treatment for moderate to severe depression. If it doesn't work, the next offer should be psychoanalytic psychotherapy. I don't know if you're accessing privately or through CAMHS, but you can find private therapists in your area
https://childpsychotherapy.org.uk/find-child-psychotherapist-search

As for the sertraline, as others have said, it's supposed to be a short term thing, around 18 months, ideally, and you do need to keep an eye on her for the first six weeks, as it can increase risk in the first month or so.

I can share our experience but it honestly the response to the medication is so different from child to child that I don't think you should give it much weight.

Our DD was in a very similar situation to yours. She started on fluoxetine, which increased her suicidality. Switched to Sertraline which reduced her anxiety but did not help her otherwise.

What has helped is a diagnosis of autism and ADHD and starting medication for ADHD.

She also has an excellent therapist. And we took her out of school.

However, we are still very much not out of the woods.

I have also heard parents talk about Sertraline having a miraculous effect on their DC.

I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. It's a terrifying time and no-one has real answers. Unless you are in the situation, you just can't understand the levels of pressure and hell parents are going through. Try to look after yourself and don't burn out. Xx

It was very effective for my daughter at that age. Allowed her to engage in getting well. Took it for 1 year and again now at 17

@Ginflinger and @spritzwiththat I know I am not the OP but your posts have been so helpful. It is so sad but also nice to know others have gone through this and come out the other side.

Can I ask what ADHD meds it was? I had looked into and considered asking for guanfacine and read that it helps the overthinking and anxiety from ADHD that can contribute to OCD. Psychiatrist seemed focussed on an SSRI being the first port of call.

Good to know there may be alternatives if the sertraline doesn’t work though as feel I am putting everything on this helping and then being able to do the CBT/ERP.

OCD UK website and workshops are super helpful if that helps anyone else too.

The psychiatrist mentioned the same thing today - that DD may not engage as well with the CBT without the antidepressants, but we will try with the first sessions this week.

My DD’s OCD is getting worse too, a week ago it was the first time I noticed her opening and shutting the fridge door repeatedly. I had never seen that before. It is very worrying. The psychiatrist said the CBT may help with the OCD thoughts and the ‘loops’ they create.

I am hopeful the GP can help us, because they have been very resistant to prescribing anything suggested by private doctors (ADHD medication of my older DD, my thyroid medication). So they may make a fuss about antidepressants.

I just hope the antidepressants will work and she will get some relief from this spiral.

Yes, I think you are right in some way - DD is really struggling with school at the moment and her autism / ADHD traits. She is currently waiting for the NHS referral for the assessment, but was told today that the company they use in our area is experiencing lack of funding and they have stalled. So they quoted 9-12 months, but it could be indefinite. We could try getting her assessed privately (through Problem Shared), but they don’t accept anyone who is experiencing self-harm, so I don't know where to go with that.

Fingers crossed the medication will help, your message gives me hope.

We saw that with the OCD getting worse, especially when school restarted in September. It was always around contamination, then started with loops with checking her hair and ears and then she started having to read a line of a book 4 times fast and if she made a mistake she said something bad would happen! It was then I thought ok we need to consider meds.

My daughter has a diagnosis of ADHD and autism which we paid privately for but have since realised she won’t be able to access meds unless we go privately and unlikely GP would take shared care back. On an SSRI they can do shared care but not ADHD meds. Stimulants can also make anxiety/ OCD worse I have heard so I am going to try the SSRI and if not then poss consider non stim ADHD meds. It is a minefield!

Have you looked up Right to Choose through NHS/ GP? They may have shorter waiting lists and then they can often take on prescribing/ do shared care.