Booted by Psychologist...

[Guest guest]

Ok, so on our 2nd appt with our new psychologist the other day, she told us

that dd's OCD issues have diminished so much on the meds that there's nothing

to 'work with' any more. She said there's no reason for us to see her.

OK.

We sure don't want dd to continue on meds forever (which, quite frankly, we

see mostly as a crutch in our daughter's circumstances), and I know we're

VERY VERY lucky in that the Prozac worked so well after her being diagnosed,

but

she'll never learn to deal with the OCD on her own this way - which is what

we really want.

So, our next psychiatrist appt is this coming Friday. We're going to tell

the doc that we want to start decreasing the meds, slowly, to see what

symptoms resurface. At that time, we will start up the psychologist appts

again so

dd can work on the therapy she will (undoubtedly) need to make it through the

rest of her life.

I just can't see keeping her on meds forever. I know she doesn't want that

either -- but how else do you fix that without stopping them so she can learn

the therapy????

LT

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/2006 10:54:27 A.M. Eastern Standard Time,

jchabot@... writes:

My oldest dd(11) has ocd. I don't bring her for meds or therapy. She feels

she can control it for now.

Judy

We'll see how it goes. My daughter is pretty strong-willed, I think now

that she is aware of what's going on, she may be able to deal with OCD on her

own. Unfortunately she hasn't been able to learn any of the " tools " to fight

it though - as I said, since we found the therapist who actually uses ERP, she

hasn't had any real issues with which to work. She still has some rituals &

worries, but nothing that truly interrupts her day.

I must admit, I'm kind of anxious for her to try the decrease in meds. I

want to see how it goes.

LT

[Guest guest]

LT,

My oldest dd(11) has ocd. I don't bring her for meds or therapy. She feels she

can control it for now. She doesn't want to take meds for fear of gaining

weight.She is a little overweight now, and has seen my 9yr old daughter blow up

like a balloon from meds. My other 2 kids with ocd are on meds, one because he

has bad thought type and the other because of severe anxiety.

With my oldest, I feel if she can handle it on her own, why pressure her to

take meds or therapy? I have ocd myself also, so I just keep reassuring her

that she doesn't need to do all the rituals and to boss it back, as well as

having her divert her attention elsewhere.I have explained this disorder at

length with her, and she knows when she's having issues with it. (That's pretty

much all she will get out of CBT therapy anyway). So far, so good. Obviously, if

she gets worse ,I'll have to see about therapy and or meds.

Just my 2cents!

hugs

Judy

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/2006 2:57:52 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

amarinonii@... writes:

<<It's clear to me that part of

<<her quitting the behaviors and compulsions is that she didn't want to

<<feel like she was " mentally messed up, " to use her words.

It really is a kind of double-edged sword, isn't it? It's a blessing that

the meds are working, but on the other hand, they aren't 'learning' anything

from it. Hmmmm...

LT

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/2006 3:02:10 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

lynnovale@... writes:

Are you sure there aren't some issues (even slight

ones) that you could work on before decreasing

Lynn

Actually, it wasn't our suggestion to stop the visits - it was the therapist

that said, " She really has no reason to be here... "

I suppose I appreciate the honesty but I was rather hoping she could work

with her on the few things she does still have a problem with - even though they

aren't debilitating. I suppose with as difficult as it is to find such a

therapist in our area, she may be somewhat guarded with her time slots (keeping

them for people who are REALLY in need of them.... which I can also

appreciate.)

LT

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/2006 5:24:18 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

adelem@... writes:

>>Maybe I have a bad attitude, but I would think a therapist should let you

>>continue as long as you are willing to pay the

money.............................. I think

>>one of my biggest fears with all this is having my therapist let me go

>>before I am ready.

Well, I can't say that a therapist would let someone go before they're

ready.. although they *may* let you go before YOU think you're ready ;-) I do

always try to keep an open mind to things like that. Sometimes I can,

sometimes I can't.

In some ways I'm relieved that the therapist isn't just bilking us for the

money when (apparently) she knows my dd isn't going to make any progress

there. It was hard to accept because it took SO FREAKIN' LONG TO FIND HER!!!!!

HA!! And just when we do find someone, we're told that at the 2nd meeting.

Just seems unfair in some ways I suppose.

As I said, I'm probably just as anxious as my daughter (anxious = excited

anticipation.... not anxious = anxiety), to see how it goes when we decrease the

meds. We shall see.

On Thursday I fly to Chicago, spend the night by my sister's then Friday we

drive to Minneapolis to meet up with our Mom for a " girl's weekend " at The

Mall of America -- I will miss my dd's psychiatrist appt on Friday, so it's up

to my husband to talk to her about decreasing the meds. I'll be interested

in hearing how she responds to that.

LT

[Guest guest]

Hi LT. I can understand your desire to want to try to lower meds, but just be

cautious if you do it. My daughter's pdoc actually had a rule about this. He

said we would try to reduce meds once there was stability for 6 months. He

said some people can do it and others need to stay on meds forever. My daughter

never made the 6 month mark of doing well. She was, however, stable in the

spring when we decided to lower her Risperdal due to weight gain. This was a

mistake as it turned out to be a disaster, but I am glad we gave it a shot. It

took

a while to get her stable again, but she now is, (crossing my fingers that it

will last now that school started again). I don't think I would mess with

meds again during the school year, for my daughter, unless absolutely necessary,

but your daughter's situation may be different. Good luck. Kim

In a message dated 9/5/2006 11:16:41 AM Central Standard Time, jtlt@...

writes:

I must admit, I'm kind of anxious for her to try the decrease in meds. I

want to see how it goes.

LT

[Guest guest]

LT,

I've always wondered about this subject. Let us know

what the therapist says.

Are you sure there aren't some issues (even slight

ones) that you could work on before decreasing --it

would give you both practice in the therapeutic

technique and maybe more importantly give your

daughter confidence in her ability to do stuff that is

disturbing(even if just a little). And maybe

reinforce the idea that the two of you can work

together against the monster.

Maybe ask her if there is something little and easy

that you'all could practice on. I know I think of my

son as subclinical right now but when I search my soul

I also know that he has tendencies that I'm just so

used to I'm not quite realizing that they involve OCD.

We should work on them but I know he will resist so I

put it off. So I'm talking out my ear right now. The

difference, however, is I'm not thinking of decreasing

meds cuz he's not taking any.

I also understand that after what you and she have

gone through not so unrecently you probly want a break

from dealing with it and want to give her a break from

you talking to her about it. That's where I'm at.

It's a balancing act.

--- jtlt@... wrote:

> Ok, so on our 2nd appt with our new psychologist the

> other day, she told us

> that dd's OCD issues have diminished so much on the

> meds that there's nothing

> to 'work with' any more. She said there's no

> reason for us to see her.

>

> OK.

>

> We sure don't want dd to continue on meds forever

> (which, quite frankly, we

> see mostly as a crutch in our daughter's

> circumstances), and I know we're

> VERY VERY lucky in that the Prozac worked so well

> after her being diagnosed, but

> she'll never learn to deal with the OCD on her own

> this way - which is what

> we really want.

>

> So, our next psychiatrist appt is this coming

> Friday. We're going to tell

> the doc that we want to start decreasing the meds,

> slowly, to see what

> symptoms resurface. At that time, we will start up

> the psychologist appts again so

> dd can work on the therapy she will (undoubtedly)

> need to make it through the

> rest of her life.

>

> I just can't see keeping her on meds forever. I

> know she doesn't want that

> either -- but how else do you fix that without

> stopping them so she can learn

> the therapy????

> LT

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

[Guest guest]

Ooh, we are in a simliar situation. It is trying, to say the least.

Our dd, 11 yrs, quit some of her compulsions when we first started CBT

in June, this year. We thought it was great. After a couple of months,

she was " off the hook " for now, as her counselor put it. I kept going,

as to learn more of how to be the co-therapist at home.

It was a slow spiral down from there. It's clear to me that part of

her quitting the behaviors and compulsions is that she didn't want to

feel like she was " mentally messed up, " to use her words. Now, her

explosions and rages are so bad, she will be in therapy tomorrow and

appt with a child psychiatrist next week. She is mostly unwilling to

hear anything about OCD, much less do ERT at home. Mom here is the bad

guy, the insults are severe and often. It could really be a blow to my

self-esteem if I didn't know better. I feel sad about all of this.

This is too much to handle alone.

[Guest guest]

Hi LT,

Actually I was thinking of you and your daughter

working on some little stuff at home.

I know this idea was really scary for me. We were in

therapy (only about once a month) for a year. The

psychologist understood what needed to happen and

spent the time getting ds to talk about what was going

on in his head and trying to educate both of us as to

how to do ERP on the things he was (almost literally)

digging out of his head. The only thing he failed at

a little bit I think was making it clear that he was

expecting us to do the actual work at home!!!!! I

kept thinking they would do it at the sessions. Maybe

some do (if sessions are more often?)

So after a year he kind of booted us because he thot

we weren't really trying or maybe he thought ds

couldn't handle the therapy w/o meds (which we weren't

ready to try). His booting was a wake up call that it

was up to Ian and me to do the work at home. We could

call for more appts I'm sure -- especially after doing

work on our own and having something to show and talk

about, but we found out we could do it ourselves!! In

the sessions he was mostly getting info and teaching

the technique which was very valuable. Too bad he

didn't make that clearer.

So anyway, LT -- you seem to understand the concepts.

I know it's scary, because some of the books say it's

important to do it right (no kidding) so I was scared

to do it myself but it's not that hard (at least when

the symptoms/anxiety are low like your dd's are right

now). I think the reason the books say that is mostly

because they don't want the " therapist " to start with

the most anxiety provoking issues. You start with the

easiest ones and work up once the sufferer has learned

confidence and had successes.

- jtlt@... wrote:

>

> In a message dated 9/5/2006 3:02:10 P.M. Eastern

> Standard Time,

> lynnovale@... writes:

>

> Are you sure there aren't some issues (even slight

> ones) that you could work on before decreasing

>

>

> Lynn

>

> Actually, it wasn't our suggestion to stop the

> visits - it was the therapist

> that said, " She really has no reason to be here... "

>

> I suppose I appreciate the honesty but I was rather

> hoping she could work

> with her on the few things she does still have a

> problem with - even though they

> aren't debilitating. I suppose with as difficult

> as it is to find such a

> therapist in our area, she may be somewhat guarded

> with her time slots (keeping

> them for people who are REALLY in need of them....

> which I can also

> appreciate.)

> LT

>

>

> [Non-text portions of this message have been

> removed]

>

>

[Guest guest]

Maybe I have a bad attitude, but I would think a therapist should let you

continue as long as you are willing to pay the money. I know for me it is

such a confidence booster to go. And many times our therapist can say the

same thing that I do at home but it seems to have much more impact. I think

one of my biggest fears with all this is having my therapist let me go

before I am ready.

Sorry

_____

From:

[mailto: ] On Behalf Of jtlt@...

Sent: Tuesday, September 05, 2006 3:24 PM

Subject: Re: Booted by Psychologist...

In a message dated 9/5/2006 3:02:10 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

lynnovale@sbcglobal <mailto:lynnovale%40sbcglobal.net> .net writes:

Are you sure there aren't some issues (even slight

ones) that you could work on before decreasing

Lynn

Actually, it wasn't our suggestion to stop the visits - it was the therapist

that said, " She really has no reason to be here... "

I suppose I appreciate the honesty but I was rather hoping she could work

with her on the few things she does still have a problem with - even though

they

aren't debilitating. I suppose with as difficult as it is to find such a

therapist in our area, she may be somewhat guarded with her time slots

(keeping

them for people who are REALLY in need of them.... which I can also

appreciate.)

LT

[Guest guest]

LT--have fun! I'm from Mpls, now in Oregon, and miss The Mall! :'(

Dina

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/2006 5:53:27 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

mnmomof1@... writes:

I can understand your desire to want to try to lower meds, but just be

cautious if you do it. My daughter's pdoc actually had a rule about this. He

said we would try to reduce meds once there was stability for 6 months.

Kim

Good stuff to know. Thanks for the input. Of course, as much as we " want "

to do this, we naturally will consider whatever the doctor thinks is best in

her professional opinion.

LT

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 9/5/2006 6:32:09 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,

@... writes:

how long has she been on the Prozac and how long has she been

doing so well on it, i.e., when did it become " nothing to work with " ?

....................................................How does dd feel about

decreasing med and then doing therapy if OCD increases?

-

All good questions.... dd has been on Prozac since mid January 2005...

" real " results started showing around April, so she was on it for about 4 months

before we truly noticed some quality of life improvements..... so that makes it

right around 4 months that she's been doing really well. As I said, there

are still some issues, but she never asks for help any more - ever. She

gets in & out of the bathroom & shower on her own, she doesn't need me to be

there while she's dressing so it doesn't take too long, etc. The items she

still has trouble with are slight & actually used to be worse than they are,

but

she still does the zipper pulling thing (to be sure it's REALLY up all the

way), checking the minblinds (are they closed??) but she doesn't run her hand

down them any more. So, just little things that apparently don't even bother

her enough to 'want' to do something about it..... which was a point that the

therapist was making. She said that until dd feels it's a problem for her,

she won't do anything with therapy. I guess I understand that.

As far as dd wanting to decrease meds -- it was all her idea to begin with.

She definitely doesn't want to be on meds any more (her attitude is a little

cocky, in that she feels it IS " her " keeping the OCD at bay and not the

meds.) We explained to her in no uncertain terms that she WILL go to therapy

to

learn how to handle the OCD on her own if/when the rituals, etc., creep back

in. She seems to be ok with that. We shall see!

LT