Re: Is my daughter paranoid or self-absorbed?

[Guest guest]

wrote to Dr. Chansky:

" Why does my daughter get so angry when other people laugh? It could

be that they are watching TV or having a private conversation. If

it doesn't involve her she gets unreasonable upset. " What's going

on? " " I don't get it; it's not funny! " " I feel left out! " This is

equally true if my husband and I share a tiny kiss or even a look. "

,

My 11 year old son is the same exact way. He, or rather, his OCD is

extremely jealous, paranoid and controlling. Before we found the right combo

of meds, he'd think that if anyone was laughing, they were laughing >at him.<

He was paranoid that people were making fun of him everywhere he went. He

also felt left out.

We've had many of these " irrational moments. " One example was how he came to

me and told me that the entire baseball team was laughing at him. Now, I'm

an experienced mother with two grown children (21 and 19). I know how to

tell when a kid is lying and when they're not. was so extremely

*convincing,* his melodrama and hysteria had me convinced too. I asked the

coach what was going on over there in the dugout and was my son being

bullied? I have never been so embarrassed in my life. The coach, a very

trustworthy man that I've known for a long time, told me that this had

happened frequently and that blows things out of proportion. He

reassured me that no one was laughing at , and I believed him. One of

the boys may have been laughing at someone else, and took it way too

personally and believed that the " whole team " was laughing at him. Needless

to say, that was the last season he played baseball. The whole team " hated "

him.

Another example of his paranoia and jealousy: I was reading him a book one

night and the main character made an interesting comment. I said to --

" Wow, wasn't that smart of him? " got extremely angry and said " You

love him more than me! " A character in a BOOK!

He also gets extremely jealous when I tell one of his brothers that I love

them ( " You don't love me... " ) when I pet the dog ( " You love her more than

me " ) and basically anything that doesn't require my total attention directed

solely on him.

When I said this kid of mine has been " high maintenance " - I wasn't kidding.

I chalk all these things up to OCD. His OCD makes him paranoid,

irrational, jealous and self-absorbed and controlling.

Due to his irrationality and over-the-top emotions, we added Risperdal 18 mos

ago. This medication has decreased all of the above symptoms. They still

pop up from time to time, but not as frequently. Risperdal is a mood

stabilizer and an anti-psychotic. Don't let that word scare you (it used to

scare me), but 's OCD *does* make him so irrational, the anti-psychotic

components of this medication has helped him calm down so he can *think*

instead of getting so emotional. It's also prescribed to augment the SSRI.

In additon, Risperdal also helps sleep very soundly at night.

Be sure to talk to your doctor about this medication when you're ready,

especially if her paranoia doesn't improve on the Zoloft.

Joni