Teen depression and self harming

[jellymoon]

I have a 14 year old daughter who is depressed, wants to give up on life, can't be bothered with school work, is obsessed with not eating anything bad and is now self harming. She seems to be transfixed by depression and seemingly at school everyone talks about depression/suicide etc. I know more about her peers who are bi-polar or clinically depressed than about who is good at netball or who is off on a nice holiday! Sadly a child in her school jumped off her building the week before last and died. She too was depressed. Just awful :(

My daughter is seeing a counsellor once a week and has been prescribed Ritalin, Valium and Prozac!! She's only 14!! I hasten to add that we don't currently live in the UK so I'm wanting to find out what parents in the UK have been recommended by doctors for their own children. We have NOT put her on any of the drugs and instead wanted to see if the CBT worked.

I'm desperate and feel a long way from home at the moment. I worry constantly and would love to hear from anyone else who has been through teens and depression.

Many thanks .

I was a depressed teen (im 20 now) and used to self harm. I really dont know what did it. I have no clue as to what i was depressed about however i did feel unloved (it was ridiculous looking back now) in my case i think it could have been hormones and stress from school.

Just remind her that you love her and youre there if she wants to talk.

Some one else will probably be along with better advice.

Could you look into NeuroLinguistic Programming as well as CBT? It changed my life.

Counselling/ therapy are far more effective than medicating her out of it. It does sound like overkill, especially the Valium and the consequent dependency issues. The NHS NICE guidelines only suggest using Prozac, and then only under psychiatric supervision. Prozac helped my 15yo self harming DD! Not spectacularly, but enough to allow her to engage with the support she was getting. Then she refused to carry on taking it, but that's another story. It does sound as though there is a culture of SH as a coping mechanism, it may be worth raising this issue with the school and seeing what they can do, especially if there has been a recent suicide. All you can do is tell her how much she is loved, and try not to react to the SH, try and remain calm, at least in front of her.
I feel for you so much, it is so hard seeing your DD so unhappy.