When is residential treatment necessary?

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

What a horrible day I had. It started off with our dog biting my

husband and I. And then we needed a new washing machine. And then I

found out that my mother has a lesion on her lung, just after getting

over breast cancer. And lastly, at the partial program at ,

they are recommending residential treatment for my daughter.

Now, the problem is that she has ADD also. The first week of partial

they told me to leave it up to her. Well, with ADD.....she didn't

work too much. She is 13. The second week I helped a lot more, and

she started to get the hang of ERP. There is a lot of recording

necessary in the program, and that is really hard for her. But at

least she was doing the exposures. She had been SOOO resistant

before the program. The first week was much better, we thought. She

understand the program better and was more willing. Definitely, not

like teens without ADD, but better for her. She made some progress

as well and some of her behaviors stopped and others were reduced.

She started a little ritalin while there and that helped her behavior

too.

Today they told us that they recommend residential. Well, my problem

is, besides the expense, that she never worked with a therapist that

specializes in ERP before. And, she is fairly functional. She has

some friends, is generally a happy kid, etc... School is very hard

due to the ADD and her anxiety certainly increases during the school

year.

How do you know when residential is the right decision? My gut tells

me to try individual therapy, maybe twice a week, for a while first.

With an ERP specialist. Or 3 times a week even. I mean, residential

will always be there. She is a very immature 13 year old. SHe wants

to get better but doesn't really know how to work hard at it. She

tries in her own way though. Her carefree spirit is endearing, but

not good for OCD work.....

Do any of you have experience with this? I mean, I don't want to

deprive her of what she really needs. But I don't want to put her in

a situation that is wrong either? My husband worries about what she

would learn there, the stigma, etc... THey say she has severe OCD.

I guess it is, but it is made much worse by her ADHD. I am hoping

that the ADD may improve with age, and that maturity will help her

motivation. My husband has ADD and he was the same way. He is also

fun loving and can't do things well with too much pressure and when

people are too serious. This program is great, but my daughter

doesn't fit the " typical " patient. She will improve much slower than

others. They don't think her progress is fast enough. Any thoughts?

Thanks. I am hoping tomorrow will be better. ELlen