klmno
Active Member
Finally, I got a return call from a therapist (psychiatric PHD) recommended by the psychology refferal place. I gave him my spill about difficult child's diagnosis, the psychiatrists who have been involved, and difficult child had the adolescent-onset type of mood cycling that started with depression and that there were clear,obvious things that caused that depression. I asked if he had experience in treating kids with BiPolar (BP)- he said yes. I asked if he actually got involved in helping the kid and family with mood cycling issues and if he actually dealt with that portion of the problem and he said yes.
I told him about difficult child's neuropsychologist test results, that when he's symptommatic, he is REALLY symptommatic, and told him about the MDE. He said he's worked with that psychiatrist for a couple of years and I said GREAT!! I told him that everything I'm reading says the therapy should address AAA, then BBB, then CCC. but, previous tdocs have kept telling me that medications should take care of all that and they can just give behavior modification or traditional family therapy.
However, regular psychiatrist keeps telling me that it might take him 3 years to get a good balance on medications and that we need a therapist on board to help deal with identifying triggers, helping difficult child understand what's going on, and work on preventative strategies. Also, the MDE psychiatrist and I discussed it and I agree with her that given the things that caused difficult child to be depressed then start cycling to begin with, behavioral modification and traditional family therapy are bringing out the things that trigger him to cycle. So, where it might not make any difference in a lot of cases, in our case, after a 45-50 min appointment of that stuff, I'm sent home with a kid who is now symptommatic whereas he was stable before delving into that. So, I asked how he felt about that and if he could deal with these things from the angle that psychiatrists recommend?
He said yes and that it sounded like a plan to him and we could meet individually before bringing difficult child in to discuss difficult child's specific symptoms and so forth. Then of course, he discussed insurance and payment. Great- so I made an appointment. Now I am wondering- do they all just say whatever it takes to get you in there? Am I really barking up the wrong tree because no matter what, tdocs are going to assume a purely behavioral cause for everything and treat it as such? Like, no matter what we discuss, instead of them really agreeing, they are looking at it like I'm just in denial and they need to work with me to get me to see that it's our dysfunctional family that needs fixed? Are they all sitting there thinking that the first thing they need to do is break my and difficult child's "mental incestous relationship"? (Quite frankly, I want my son and I to have as good of a relationship as we can and we need people to support it, not crticize it, and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about our relationship that crosses that kind of line.) And although I know they want and need difficult child to talk to them about symtpoms, fears, anxieties, etc., right now he is comfortable telling me and psychiatrist those things. If they start therapy by ruining my and difficult child's relationship (not that it's perfect), he won't be telling ANYONE when he feels like harming himself or is tempted to do drugs, etc. and yes, that does scare me.
Is there anything I should specificly cover to verify that he won't turn around and jump right back to "the medications take care of BiPolar (BP)- I take care of conduct issues" like the others have? How can I be sure? Can I have him sign something agreeing that he will not do a certain type of therapy without my prior consent?
Don't get me wrong- it's not that I don't see that difficult child has to get a better grip on behavior, it's that that I agree with psychiatrists and what I've read, that when it's mood cycling and difficult child's initial issues, you reach that objective by taking "X" approach first instead of "Y" approach.
I told him about difficult child's neuropsychologist test results, that when he's symptommatic, he is REALLY symptommatic, and told him about the MDE. He said he's worked with that psychiatrist for a couple of years and I said GREAT!! I told him that everything I'm reading says the therapy should address AAA, then BBB, then CCC. but, previous tdocs have kept telling me that medications should take care of all that and they can just give behavior modification or traditional family therapy.
However, regular psychiatrist keeps telling me that it might take him 3 years to get a good balance on medications and that we need a therapist on board to help deal with identifying triggers, helping difficult child understand what's going on, and work on preventative strategies. Also, the MDE psychiatrist and I discussed it and I agree with her that given the things that caused difficult child to be depressed then start cycling to begin with, behavioral modification and traditional family therapy are bringing out the things that trigger him to cycle. So, where it might not make any difference in a lot of cases, in our case, after a 45-50 min appointment of that stuff, I'm sent home with a kid who is now symptommatic whereas he was stable before delving into that. So, I asked how he felt about that and if he could deal with these things from the angle that psychiatrists recommend?
He said yes and that it sounded like a plan to him and we could meet individually before bringing difficult child in to discuss difficult child's specific symptoms and so forth. Then of course, he discussed insurance and payment. Great- so I made an appointment. Now I am wondering- do they all just say whatever it takes to get you in there? Am I really barking up the wrong tree because no matter what, tdocs are going to assume a purely behavioral cause for everything and treat it as such? Like, no matter what we discuss, instead of them really agreeing, they are looking at it like I'm just in denial and they need to work with me to get me to see that it's our dysfunctional family that needs fixed? Are they all sitting there thinking that the first thing they need to do is break my and difficult child's "mental incestous relationship"? (Quite frankly, I want my son and I to have as good of a relationship as we can and we need people to support it, not crticize it, and there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about our relationship that crosses that kind of line.) And although I know they want and need difficult child to talk to them about symtpoms, fears, anxieties, etc., right now he is comfortable telling me and psychiatrist those things. If they start therapy by ruining my and difficult child's relationship (not that it's perfect), he won't be telling ANYONE when he feels like harming himself or is tempted to do drugs, etc. and yes, that does scare me.
Is there anything I should specificly cover to verify that he won't turn around and jump right back to "the medications take care of BiPolar (BP)- I take care of conduct issues" like the others have? How can I be sure? Can I have him sign something agreeing that he will not do a certain type of therapy without my prior consent?
Don't get me wrong- it's not that I don't see that difficult child has to get a better grip on behavior, it's that that I agree with psychiatrists and what I've read, that when it's mood cycling and difficult child's initial issues, you reach that objective by taking "X" approach first instead of "Y" approach.
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