klmno
Active Member
I've seen it listed for Conduct Disorder usually. I'll just throw out the way it works here- it deals with behavior ONLY and either takes over or does not allow therapy for anything else. So, if your kid has a diagnosis for something else, is acting out due to a different problem, is symptommatic due to medications, whatever, it does not matter- the mst guy here completely ignores that and does not allow conversation about it. He wrote "our goals"- we had no input. I had spent 2 years working and fighting with the sd to get them to see that difficult child had problems that needed more in his iep than rewards/consequences. He wanted to go to an iep meeting and reverse all that.
In another thread about family therapy where I wrote about our experiencees, it was the mst guy that wanted me to cook different meals as a negotiating factor for me having to pay $4000 restitution for difficult child and difficult child having 7 charges on deferment- and just having received a diagnosis of possible bipolar, yet I was supposed to just let difficult child go out and basicly do waht he wanted. This is the guy that I asked if he would put it in writing that he would take legal and financial responsibility if I followed his recommendations. This is because any time I even questioned or wanted to discuss one of his "suggestions", I was threatened with non-compliance of a court order.
Other issues I had with him- he said he would work appts around my schedule but then would call me and ttell me when he would be at my house and that he couldn't make it any other time and if I wasn't home and ready then, I'd be non-compliant. He'd say we were going to work on ABC next time and be prepared- I'd be prepared- next time he'd say "well, I decided we'd do XYZ instead". It was like his entire goal was to make sure I learned to jump when he said jump and never question him.
I do think it might have been because there might have already been a "label" on me at the juvenile courts. The mst guy and PO work together- physically and figuratively. I asked him directly if he did CBT for difficult child's identified issues and he said "no". I asked if he helped family's identify and work on triggers where mood cycling is involved and he said no- and he said that if difficult child committed another illegal action while doing this therapy, he would be arrested and suffer the consequences just like any other time. Dr. S. of the MDE said with difficult child, treating him like this was a BIG trigger for poor decisions - that in difficult child, behavior mod serves to reinforce his negative self image and hoplessness and tends to bring out worse behavior in him. She also said that she didn't understand why people never learned that treating Depression and Bipolar like it's Conduct Disorder will never solve the problem, and in difficult child it was a trigger.
Also- hardly any treatment module is going to list blaming the parents as a part of it. Look at CBT, for instance. That doesn't mean that a therapist who says he/she will do CBT is not going to sit in there and treat the parents like they are to blame. Many of us here have had that experience. The type of treatment is only as good as the therapist, in my humble opinion, but that doesn't make the treatment module "bad" if used as intended and for the appropriate diagnosis. And if the family is "working with" someone who honestly beleieves the issues are the parents' fault, it is going to become the focus. Now, it's one thing if thru time in therapy, it is apparent what things the parent needs to change, but it's another if the therapist walks in the first day wiith this attitude before even getting to know the family. If the therapist tells you he got the "family history and all the info he needs" from someone who you know can't stand you, it seems a little apparent to me that the label already exists and he is walking in with those pre-conceived notions. And I for one, cannot stand to constantly hear "you'll have to go before the judge if you don't do this" when I am already doing what I'm supposed to be doing and being compliant.
Just my 2 cents and experience. LOL!!
In another thread about family therapy where I wrote about our experiencees, it was the mst guy that wanted me to cook different meals as a negotiating factor for me having to pay $4000 restitution for difficult child and difficult child having 7 charges on deferment- and just having received a diagnosis of possible bipolar, yet I was supposed to just let difficult child go out and basicly do waht he wanted. This is the guy that I asked if he would put it in writing that he would take legal and financial responsibility if I followed his recommendations. This is because any time I even questioned or wanted to discuss one of his "suggestions", I was threatened with non-compliance of a court order.
Other issues I had with him- he said he would work appts around my schedule but then would call me and ttell me when he would be at my house and that he couldn't make it any other time and if I wasn't home and ready then, I'd be non-compliant. He'd say we were going to work on ABC next time and be prepared- I'd be prepared- next time he'd say "well, I decided we'd do XYZ instead". It was like his entire goal was to make sure I learned to jump when he said jump and never question him.
I do think it might have been because there might have already been a "label" on me at the juvenile courts. The mst guy and PO work together- physically and figuratively. I asked him directly if he did CBT for difficult child's identified issues and he said "no". I asked if he helped family's identify and work on triggers where mood cycling is involved and he said no- and he said that if difficult child committed another illegal action while doing this therapy, he would be arrested and suffer the consequences just like any other time. Dr. S. of the MDE said with difficult child, treating him like this was a BIG trigger for poor decisions - that in difficult child, behavior mod serves to reinforce his negative self image and hoplessness and tends to bring out worse behavior in him. She also said that she didn't understand why people never learned that treating Depression and Bipolar like it's Conduct Disorder will never solve the problem, and in difficult child it was a trigger.
Also- hardly any treatment module is going to list blaming the parents as a part of it. Look at CBT, for instance. That doesn't mean that a therapist who says he/she will do CBT is not going to sit in there and treat the parents like they are to blame. Many of us here have had that experience. The type of treatment is only as good as the therapist, in my humble opinion, but that doesn't make the treatment module "bad" if used as intended and for the appropriate diagnosis. And if the family is "working with" someone who honestly beleieves the issues are the parents' fault, it is going to become the focus. Now, it's one thing if thru time in therapy, it is apparent what things the parent needs to change, but it's another if the therapist walks in the first day wiith this attitude before even getting to know the family. If the therapist tells you he got the "family history and all the info he needs" from someone who you know can't stand you, it seems a little apparent to me that the label already exists and he is walking in with those pre-conceived notions. And I for one, cannot stand to constantly hear "you'll have to go before the judge if you don't do this" when I am already doing what I'm supposed to be doing and being compliant.
Just my 2 cents and experience. LOL!!
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