Hi all
After so much wonderful support from my first post yesterday, I wonder if anyone has had any experience of their child going into a mental hospital, day or stay, through CAMHS? CAMHS are saying that if my daughter doesn't improve within a week, she will have to go to the hospital, just on a daily basis though, for intensive therapy. Oh dear more failure as a parent, now both my girls are on anti-depressants, my 15 yr old for OCD and my 14 yr old for depression following her bullying.
Thanks for your help
Carrie xxx

Hi Carrie,

That is very scary and I have never heard of this before. My son was on prozac for a year and they just kept upping the dose and he did go back to school but not for long as he too was bullied. The high dose of prozac made him put on weight and as he is sports mad, it was a disaster for us so he is off all meds. They did want to try others as his psyc said quite often the meds stop working and you need to try others but we took the decision not to.

I have never heard of cahms being so reactive before. I think that my initial reaction was horror but if your daughter is an outpatient and she is going for intensive therapy on a daily basis, it might help. But of course that is your desicion. I think how Cahms deal with school anxiety is very different around the country. Where are you based? I am in london and the cahms waiting list is 12 weeks. Not much use...

It is so hard this and as everyone says, this forum is a lifeline for us all. My son has also just turned 14 and was fine until secondary school. It has been a bombshell in our lives, I have had to give up my job, move house to raise finance to pay for everything, seen highly qualified psychologists who were useless, hypnosis, tapping, you name it, we have tried it! and as I am stuck at home now we have decided to homeschool for the time being as I cannot deal with the stress from the LEA. We have a wonderful therapist who has a lot of success with school refusers but sadly, not with my son. However, I am aware that there are children who when all pressure of school is taken away, they self heal and can return under their own steam. I guess I am hoping that will happen for us. You might have read the article I posted earlier in the week which has a happy ending..

So sorry I'm not much use really but sending you lots of love and support.

Sophy

Carrie

First of all, you have not failed as a parent, but this is something all of us have expressed at some time, I'm a bit unsure about hospitalization, I don't know if it is the right thing to do, my son was awful when we were attending CAMHS, about a year after we stopped going it was suggested that he be referred back there, we spoke about it and he said that he couldn,t go back as it made him feel worse than he already felt, we decided against it, you know your daughter and you need to look deep into your heart and decide if this is the best course of treatment for her, but I think you both need to sit down and talk about it and decide between you.

Take care
Dorothy x

Hi Carrie - my son did have a CAMHS session at our mental health hospital - this was so he could be observed by additional professionals via a 2 way mirror. He was told at the beginning of the session that they could see and hear him, but he wouldn't be aware of it, and after a few minutes he did forget about them, and to be fair the outcome was very positive but he only went the one time for a more intensive session. You are not a bad parent at all - bad parents don't try and do their best for their chldren but we all doubt ourselves at times.

If it helps take all the assistance you can honey because we all need support.

Take care Sar xx

Hi Carrie
Don't blame yourself we are all too caring that we do this to ourselves. I struggled with this thought too. My son has attended the CAMHS hospital as an outpatient over the last year, self help sessions mainly. However although we have had a few good periods we are again waiting for more intensive therapy. I am in Scotland, not sure where you are but yes we have been told that this will first be offered as outpatient or day. If he continues not to respond it could lead to more regular attendance at their school at the hospital. However I believe this is still not a permanent solution they will do intensive work with a view to integrating him back into mainstream school. I feel its all very slow progress. I hope both your daughters get what they need and it helps.
I also know a great book for OCD - Brain Lock (Free yourself from OCD)by Jeffrey M Schwartz M.D. A four step self treatment method to change your brain chemistry. Takes a lot of mastering but one of the basic things is to relabel your thoughts to prevent the worry spiralling out of control and leading to complusive behaviour. The best mantra - its not me its just the OCD.
Take care and keep in touch Dawn

Hi Carrie,

Just reading the posts now and back up what everyone else has said really as you can be sure that at the hospital they will have a therapy that they know works with this kind of thing.

And a big back up for the OCD post by Dawn above. There is also a documentary that follows up 'The Brain that changes itself' by Norman Doidge and it is called 'Changing your mind' and looks at the work by and interviews Jeffrey Schwarz. I kept thinking that this must surely work with our kids too and not just OCD. I did contact someone who works with this therapy (four step therapy?) and they said it can be applied to many different anxiety disorders. In many ways it is 'cognitive behaviour' but in a very structured way that also allows a 'step back' process. I highly recommend both these DVDs (and the book 'The Brain that Changes itself' to all on the forum as it does open up many possibilities.
Good luck Carrie,
Linda xx

Dear all
Thank you for your support. H is actually much better after the weekend (started sertraline Friday - not sure if it could have had an effect so quickly, although did straight away with my other daughter). We go back to CAMHS to see the doc today. She also had a really positive weekend with her father so think that helped.
We are in Chelmsford for those that asked. The GP was fantastic and did an urgent fax request to CAMHS to refer H, we then had an appointment within 2 days. They referred us to the crisis team when things turned even worse and they have been brilliant. Different story for my other daughter with her OCD though, they put her on the tablets, said she would be referred for CBT and we're still waiting over a year later. Thanks for the advise about the books and the DVDS, I will be definitely be buying those!
How awful to have to sell your house etc ! I have thought that may be how we end up too, there's only so much support work will give me before it's withdrawn I'm sure.
Thanks again for replying and your support, really really helps.
Love Carrie xxx