Vent..left Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) last week.

flachic

New Member
I had my [/i]appointment. with our therapist (Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)) last Wed. but she spent 60% talking about my difficult child's stuff. When I told her I had an appointment. with-a psychologist on Friday to possibly do an evaluation, her response was "Why do you think you need that done?" Uh, why??? because said difficult child threatened our sitter's life, threatened to jump out of a moving car, spent hours on edge, etc. etc. etc. Let's finally make sure nothing is going on underneath! So, she replied "Well, he's obviously ADHD...a less expensive option would be to get the medication, see if it works & if it does, you know what he's got". Are you kidding??? Isn't it ADD medications that can increase aggression in a kid with-BiPolar (BP) disorder? And, correct me if I'm wrong, but don't college students take ADD medications to focus & study better (in other words, they can do something for almost anyone). I mentioned social anxiety (which my difficult child definitely has) and how it looks like hyper-activity in kids but she was not having any of it. Mind you, she's never done any type of evaluation.
I took him with-me to the psychologist & he sat in the waiting room for 1 1/2 hours playing his gameboy..and today I brought him in to see the psychologist himself, and he was there over an hour. No games this time. Whatever is going on with him, he certainly wasn't exhibiting any hyper-ness...he sat still, was attentive, answered the questions asked, was able to have a conversation about the worst of his behaviors, talked about what he had done & what came of it...I don't know.
It just pisses me off that yet one more person (supposedly an authority) can look at a kid & diagnose him. If it was that easy, would we even be here??
Anyway, I was supposed to see her for my own mental health & all that did was stress me out! It was coming anyway...there were other signs before now that we should leave.
New doctor wants to see my difficult child weekly...much better than every other week! And, is completely willing to work with-us financially to get him better care. I see that most here see a psychiatrist
Found out too that a neuropsychologist is hard to come by here...I understand we only have one and it's hard to get in. We'll try this & see where it goes...can't be worse, can it?? (Please say no!!)

Whew. I'm done. Thanks for listening!
 

Stella Johnson

Active Member
She thinks you should just give him a stimulant to see if he has ADD? Did you ask her if you should take chemo to decide if you have cancer or not? That has to be one of the dumbest things I have heard from a professional.

She clearly isn't qualified to make any kind of diagnosis. :nonono:

Yes, a stimulant can send a BiPolar (BP) kid off the deep end. It did the same with my difficult child. Once she was stabilized on Depakote life has been so much easier for all involved.

DO you have a children's hospital near you? My difficult child had a full evaluation at our local one. It was the best thing I could have done for her. They were wonderful there.

steph
 

flachic

New Member
There is a part of our hospital that is for children & I tried recently to do some online research, but came up empty-handed. However, I noticed the psychologist had a badge for a different hospital, so I'm going to tap him for some info.
The testing may include some sort of neurological test...when I get all the info & names of tests, I will let you know. I obviously am somewhat new to this part of the process, but I'll learn as I go (with-a little help from this board!).
Yeah, she was a bit off in her judgement...though I should be used to it. I've heard this so many times from so many people, in one form or another.
I liked your analogy by the way:



She thinks you should just give him a stimulant to see if he has ADD? Did you ask her if you should take chemo to decide if you have cancer or not? That has to be one of the dumbest things I have heard from a professional.
:thumbsup:

Thank you for that.
 

timer lady

Queen of Hearts
flashic,

I'm looking at your signature & see that your difficult child has anxiety issues along with a hx of trauma when he was younger. I would think a great deal of what is going on is anxiety based.

Having lived this with tweedles dee & dum, I can tell you it's ugly & it's hard for a professional to diagnosis in children.

For kt & wm, the non-stop activity is all PTSD related. How's the EMDR working for difficult child? kt is always "off" for a couple of days after an EMDR treatment but then things level off again.

Both of our tdocs are working with kt & wm on their capacity to maintain - to cope with their high levels of anxiety. To slow their bodies down, acknowledge their feelings, ask for help in controlling the "flight or fight" mentality of traumatized children.

(Just something for you to consider.)

We've been through every diagnosis in the book before we hit on the Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD), PTSD & bipolar for my difficult children. We have a clear picture of the needed treatment plan.

My hope is that you find the same for your difficult child.
 
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