Help/advice/support needed. Anxiety ridden teenager refusing CBT.

[LoisGriffin]

DD 17 has been suffering from increasing anxiety to the point that it is effectively crippling and preventing her from even basic functioning.
She has had 3 CBT sessions but now refuses to go back as 'it's not helping'.
She is awake all night and sleeps all day.
We're back and forth and to and fro from the doctors who have only given her tamazapam to help her sleep. (it didn't).

We have another appointment on Monday.
I was supposed to be at wedding today but she had me up with her all night spilling about how scared she is to be on her own while I tried to explain how distorted her world had become. So I haven't gone.

Am tearing my hair out. She cries for help then pushes me away.
I've told her she can have this weekend (she's not going to best friend's birthday tonight having bought her present and made huge card but too fearful to go) but as of Monday things have to change.

I am not going to be housebound with her and have told her so.
Also putting strain on relationship with dp (who has gone to the wedding) and so am feeling very isolated.

Help!

Hi Lois,

No expert here but I have suffered from/been diagnosed with anxiety and depression on two seperate occasions in the past as well as PTSD, and have found that CBT can vary in it's usefulness depending on the counsellor you get and how you connect with them.

From my own experience I found that taking a course of three different supplements helped: magnesium citrate to improve my sleep (therefore making me less strung out), high strength / quality fish oils to boost brain function and help with anxiety, and I also took a herbal tablet called Rhodiola - taken for when you are run down, as St John's Wort is taken for depression. I can give you links to everything I've mentioned and the research behind why it works if you are interested?
I didn't want to take AD's as offered to me, having watched my mother and others around me never get anywhere good with them.
CBT did help me at the same time, my anxiety problems were always triggered by certain family relationships and CBT helped me to learn how to deal with these people and my responses to them, it did take two goes though.

I also have a neice who has had several years of behaviour similar to what you describe at around the same age. She was originally checked out for bi-polar disorder before being diagnosed as having a personality disorder. I know the stress it can put on you as a mother, my SIL has had to give up a lot of her time, (not to mention her teaching job) as the behaviour has worsened. So I understand your need to "nip in the bud" any behaviour that leans towards histrionic at such a formative time, but I would be careful to know the root cause of it too and make sure she has got the help she needs. I'm also really uncomfortable with the way GP's dish out AD's to people anyway, let alone for teenagers, who's brains are still work in progress during these years.

Do you have a good idea what is triggering her anxiety?

Thanks Lotster.
Yes I know exactly what has triggered her anxieties and given the events of the last year or so it's not really surprising that she is feeling like she is.

I will look at the supplements you mention.
We looked at st John's Wort but it says not to be taken with contraceptive pill which she is on which i am beginning to wonder whether that may be also contributing somehow...?

I believe some women can be very sensitive to the contraceptive pill. I think it would definately be worth eliminating possible factors - like the pill - to see if that makes a difference. The pill definately made me anxious and depressed, as did any other hormonal contraception I've tried. It makes sense for her to not put anything artificial into her body, and to eat a healthy natural diet ( I absolutely believe this can also make a big difference to how someone feels )before anything else it tried.

Well the pill certainly made me moody and emotional! Hence I don't take it anymore.

I have quite a strong belief in nutritional health and often when we get run down, our sleep and diet suffer, we also get deficient in certain things which can really aggravate an already stressful emotional state, as you know.
This may sound a really simplified way of looking at things, but I do think that making sure she's on a really good multivitamin (Solgar are great) and some fish oils, plus getting enough sleep, can put her in a place where she can start to look at her problems and face them (and allow the phsycotherapy to work). It really worked for me.

Magnesium citrate:
Solgar-explanation
Actual tablets

Omega 3 Fish Oil
Higher Nature - the best IMHO

link about fish oil and anxiety

These aren't cheap supplements, but perhaps a course of each of them could help her to get back on track. And getting more oily fish in the diet. Best of luck.

hi,poor you!
can only think
go to bed and get up same time every night and morning
talk it through
resolve any problems that can be resolved
continue any normal activities she can
eat well
no alcohol or coffee
different therapist for emdr/cbt with clinical psychologist
psychiatric referral?
what sort of thing happened to make her anxious?

Hi

I have revived this Zombie Thread as it mirrors my position exactly.

DD is 17 and suffering severe depression/anxiety.

We are under CAMHS and she is medicated with Sertraline but I'm very interested in alternative therapies as mentioned earlier in this thread.

Can anyone offer advice/insight into vitamins/fish oils etc??
Makes? Doseage? Benefits? etc etc

Can they be used alongside the sertraline?

Her anxiety can be crippling and we need help.

All advice will be welcome.

Poor wee thing. Extreme anxiety is awful (and very, very tough for you too). To be honest, CBT never did much for me. I had 3 lots and I really wanted to engage with it, but it just wasn't for me.

What has really helped is mindfulness meditation. It might sound like woo, but I feel it's helped me take a lot of the control back over my life which I'd lost. Mindfulness: Finding Peace in a Frantic World by Mark Williams and Danny Penman is excellent. I also find magnesium helpful for my anxiety if I relapse. Best of luck to you and your DD

Thank you Agent for your reply.

I will certainly look at that book and do some research on magnesium.

Her anxiety is so acute but, its often over things that you or I might consider to be insignificant.

She will pass a comment to a friend in a public place then worry for days about who might have overheard her and misinterpreted what she said/meant.
She gets so "eaten up" with her thoughts that she can't sleep.

It's so upsetting to see her in such mental pain, I'll certainly log on to Amazon now x.

What you describe about her anxiety over a comment being overheard sounds like OCD which is an anxiety disorder. She obsesses over this and cannot get the thought out of her head which causes huge anxiety. Very common OCD trait to be anxious about hurting others with your comments or otherwise. CBT should help her deal with this although it is hard work. Mindfulness good for general anxiety

I hated CBT, have tried it a couple times and in the end gave up with it after being told I was probably on the autistic spectrum and CBT probably wouldn't work, my therapist introduce me to mindfulness and it has helped me a lot.