How to deal with a child who has mental health issues.

CG77

stef240377 wrote: »

No the ticks are at an all time high. If he does sit down stairs with us he will grunt quite loudly, if he is told to stop them he sits wrenching his neck to one side or fidgeting with his hands. He also has facial twitchs and again was told all this would clear up either with age or through peer pressure. No scan was done as no signs of trauma just a bit of vicious looking bruising.

Yeah the ticks and twitches are classic signs of stress of course. I'd just absolutely ignore any noises, twitches etc as I'm sure he doesn't want to do it either and bringing his attention to it will just make him more stressed.

Poor, poor lad. I so hope you get the help you need to help him soon.

CG. x

verysillyguy06

stef240377 wrote: »

No the ticks are at an all time high. If he does sit down stairs with us he will grunt quite loudly, if he is told to stop them he sits wrenching his neck to one side or fidgeting with his hands. He also has facial twitchs and again was told all this would clear up either with age or through peer pressure. No scan was done as no signs of trauma just a bit of vicious looking bruising.

Dont know...my first action is always to cut out any possible physical reason but like I said, I am not in a medical profession.Are you satisfied with their opinion?

stef240377

As CG pointed out, we have been told it is like a side effect of stress in kids/adults so on that understanding yes we are happy. As they get worse tho you have no option but to mention them at each meeting we get so the last thing we were asked was if there was futher bullying going on hence food and money going missing as if to buy friendships or pay off bullies but the school have not seen anything and have said at one point when all his Darren Shan books (brand new not even read) and brothers rock band t-shirts and hoodies were syphoned out the house, his head of year said kids often agree between themselves to exchange goods hence not being able to involve themselves in it.

cobbingstones

Sorry if it has already been mentioned but you need to contact the school asap and request a CAF meeting (common assessment framework) This meeting brings all the professionals involved (or who will need to be) together. They will listen to you and your child's needs (your child is also involved unless you feel that this would not be productive) and then an action plan is set.

Otherwise if you would prefer go to your gp asap and make a referral to the child mental health professionals.

Wishing you and your family lots of luck xxx

Needhelpsaving

Hi,

Having suffered with depression since my teens, it took me 6 years to actually say what I needed to. The one thing to know is that we are very good at hiding it.

I was advised to write in a diary to 'make sense of my thoughts' - I struggled to talk because I was so confused and I showed my partner the diary so he knew how I felt.

Sometimes you don't want to talk for fear of hurting someone (trying to protect them).

Suggest a diary - it may not go down well but it's worth a try. Then ask him that when he is ready to show you so you can understand and help.

I also found the NHS website good - they have videos on there about mental health.

Definatley go to your GP as there are tablets that can help people. There are a huge variety, but your GP will advise on what is best - just make sure they get taken.

Hope this helps x

stef240377

Have apptmnt with GP at 6pm, school nurse is sorting out the school side of things for me so i was just wandering in the mean time if there are any other organisations out there i could touch base with in the child sector. Alot of the ones i have seen on the net are either for a child to contact and request support or the other end of the scale for adults with mental health probs, there does not seem to be a neutral ground for parents to contact anyone for help.

stef240377

Needhelpsaving wrote: »

Hi,

Having suffered with depression since my teens, it took me 6 years to actually say what I needed to. The one thing to know is that we are very good at hiding it.

I was advised to write in a diary to 'make sense of my thoughts' - I struggled to talk because I was so confused and I showed my partner the diary so he knew how I felt.

Sometimes you don't want to talk for fear of hurting someone (trying to protect them).

Suggest a diary - it may not go down well but it's worth a try. Then ask him that when he is ready to show you so you can understand and help.

I also found the NHS website good - they have videos on there about mental health.

Definatley go to your GP as there are tablets that can help people. There are a huge variety, but your GP will advise on what is best - just make sure they get taken.

Hope this helps x

We have asked him to write down anything that is bothering him even if its on scraps of paper left where we can find it after he has gone to school so atleast we have some 'sense' of what is going on .

MrsAnnie

Sorry Stef, no advice to give you. But sending you hugs and hope this awful situation is sorted out soon.

MrsAnnie x

Counting_Pennies_2

stef240377 wrote: »

He also seems to be in a fantasy world at times - easier to explain as a parallel life. My husband took the boys swimming a few months ago, they used the male changing rooms and while individually in cubicles my son was convinced while he was drying off and putting his underware on one of the polystyrene ceiling tiles was lifted up, he was watched by someone and was also filmed on a camera. My husband climbed up to see what he was on about, he was getting changed in the next cubible and saw/heard nothing. Nevertheless, stood on the shelf in cubicle pushing up tile and all was empty. Even now he is convinced by what he says he saw, the pysochotherapist alsp doubted it and brushed it aside.

Given you don't know what happened with his bio father, this could well be his way of giving you snippets of his life.

You just don't know what went on there, and if there was any good counsellor out there, they would have explored this, and asked him if something similar had happened to him another time when this had happened.

I am not looking to alarm you, but I would suggest a different counsellor to see what they get gleam from it all. Better out than in with trauma.

stef240377

I totally agree with you but he refuses to talk to anyone he breaks down into tears then clams up with a hard faced expression on him.