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  • BDD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | negrogesic

Help Needed. My 9 year Old child is depressed

E

Exentric

Greenlighter
Joined
Oct 28, 2008
Messages
16
I am writing this with a lot of pain in my heart. My child who is only nine has been diagnosed with depression. His problems started when he complained of fear in going to school. Now he says his life does not worth living and he will not be ever saved from this state. Psychiatrist says he is suffering from depression. The prescription he gave is:

Lexapro (escitalopram) 10 mg once daily
Klonopin 0.25mg bid.

I am afraid even in this tender age if he has begun to suffer depression how is going to manage his future especially there are not many years for me as I am becoming old and soon will be debilitated. Besides, will these medicines will help him cure his depression or will get him addicted to them so that he will never be drug free in his life?

He was a child with an above average IQ. He stopped going to school and he is happy when at home. But...,

I am not in a position to afford CBT at this moment because I have been jobless for many months and the financial situation is worsening day by day. I love my kids a lot, but if anything happens to him suicide will the only option left for me because in fact I am only alive because I want to give them a life better than me.

Is there anyone who can advise me? I am desperately seeking help
 
well any more information you can muster would be greatly appreciated

my father died a little over 2 years ago and left me to take care of my mom and my (now 9) year old sister. So this most definitely hits close to home with me because my life goal is to make sure my little sister lives a happy and proper life.

hows the home life? do you actually spend quality time with him? like playing together etc.
what about school? does he get picked on at school? being bullied certainly wouldnt help
did he tell YOU he was depressed? and keeping him home wont help, humans need social interaction. if he stays at home and wallows in his own pity it wont get better
 
DeMiZe-420- said:
well any more information you can muster would be greatly appreciated
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Sure. He was a very happy child since he was nine. Due to the economic rescension I lost my job and had to move to a location which I think more friendly to my kids though not me. (I don't care about me at all at this moment)

my father died a little over 2 years ago and left me to take care of my mom and my (now 9) year old sister. So this most definitely hits close to home with me because my life goal is to make sure my little sister lives a happy and proper life.
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I hope things are going well in your case.

hows the home life? do you actually spend quality time with him? like playing together etc.
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I spend as much as time with him to make him happy at home. But his thoughts seems to be floating like "Papa how are going to manage our life since you don't have any job to support us". Or sometimes he even thinks he has become a burden for me so that I am spending money on him. He says nothing would help him.

what about school? does he get picked on at school? being bullied certainly wouldnt help
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School atmosphere, as far as I understand is very friendly to him. Teachers and friends have particular interest on him since he being the one of the best (if not the best) performers in the school.

did he tell YOU he was depressed?
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He did not tell me he was depressed. But from the conversation with him I understood he has dominant negative thoughts. And psychiatrist says this is usual in depression.

and keeping him home wont help,humans need social interaction.
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He seems to have developed a school phobia so I will not send him to school at the moment. At the same time, I allow him to interact with other kids returning from their schools. Surprisingly he is perfectly normal when he engages in games with his friends. But when the thought of going to school comes to his mind, he become totally disabled and staying in the bed.
if he stays at home and wallows in his own pity it wont get better
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At the moment, I have no option left other than keeping him away from school which he fears most. Doctor says Lexapro (antidepressant) will most probably kick in within a couple of weeks or so and when only he himself says he wants to go to school, I can send him there.

But the dominant negative thoughts of my kid alarms me a lot. I have told my wife and his elder brother always to keep an eye on him and not to let him alone either in home or out by any chance.

Anyway, I forgot to thank your input. Thank you a lot dear friend
 
hmm to me it sounds like he is carrying stress and anxiety (essentially worrying) about situations he shouldnt even be thinking in his small fragile head. It sounds like he almost carries a guilt for the families short-commings. Its good that you play with him show him he is loved and charished.

but in all honesty nobody under the age of 15 should be taking any benzo's (kolonipin) i weigh 120lbs and when i take .25mg of kolonipin is fucks me up and puts me to sleep, kpin also has a long half life that could turn your son irritable and maybe hostile the day after

and as for lexapro do you know if its a dopamine reuptake inhibitor or a serotonin? because in my opinion it sounds like the dopamine balance in his brain is all screwed up
 
If you have questions or concerns about your child's diagnosis and medications, you should bring those concerns up with your child's psychiatrist; the psychiatrist will know better than anyone else here. If it makes you feel better, you can always have your child screened by another psychiatrist to get a second opinion.

If your child has unipolar depression he is going to need those medications. The medications are there to help. Bluelight may not be the best place to ask questions about whether psychiatric medications are good or not; many people here seem biased against them for some reason. I know that, for me, I couldn't function normally without my medications; they really turned my life around for the better and I won't ever stop taking them.

Now, as for help in getting your child the best treatment available, I recommend contacting NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness). Their website is www.nami.org -- They have a link at the top to find the number/location of your local NAMI non-profit office. Call and ask for help. Your child probably qualifies for state or grant-funded treatment programs and may be able to receive free medications (I get my Seroquel for free from the company that makes it). You may have to provide some proof that your child does have a mental illness so he can qualify for some of the free/grant-run treatment programs out there, but that should be easy enough to do. The people at NAMI have always been extremely helpful to my family and I.

Also, your child may be eligible for benefits from social security. I'm not sure if that is the case, but it may be worth getting a consultation with a disability lawyer (usually free, and if they take your case they only ask to get a cut of the total benefits they earn for your child) to see if you can get extra help/benefits to afford better treatment/medications.

Also, find out if your child somehow qualifies for charity care at the outpatient clinic you go to for his therapy and psychiatric appointments (the state pays for everything that way). I don't pay for any of my outpatient treatment at the moment, but once I make more money I'll probably have to.

You really need to talk to people who deal with this every day, people who are professionals, such as the people at your child's outpatient center, his psychiatrist, or the people at NAMI if you want really sound advice. I think my advice, coming from experience, is sound, but you should really take it up with NAMI, etc. to be sure what is best for your situation.
 
Maybe discuss with an other psy there is often some divergence...

But always find a pro answer, good luck
 
see, but what im trying to explain hitler...i mean feuer... is that todays society tries to solve all the problems on the quickness

for ex.
"ohh so you have lower back pains? lemme prescribe u percocet for that"
^doctor goes on about his day, and the guy with back pains gets a nice prescription to an abused drug
or "okay so you are depressed? take this pill it will make it ALL BETTER!!"but some of the adverse side effects could be suicidal thoughts, even more depression and other unwanted issues

all im trying to explain is .25 kolonopin wouldnt do much good.. the kid is going to be walking around like a fucking zombie
BL is a harm reduction site and in my honest opinion i think kpin would do more harm than good
im not biased or anything like the above poser assumes im just simply stating my opinion

i wouldnt waste my time typing this nonsense if i didnt think it would help
 
what happened to the days when depression didn't exist, and kids either did what they were told or faced the consequences, there wasn't cases of 9 year olds being depressed, and if they were then they were put to MORE work and kept busy so they didn't have time to think about their NONexistent problems. school can be stressful and all but seriously 20 years ago that kids parent would've smacked him across the room and dared him to say he didn't want to go to school again and that kid would be a doctor or a lawyer today. instead of growing up with girly hair and painted fingernails wearing glasses with no lenses in them for their "scene"
 
I think therapy should go before medication for a 9 year old. Meds should be the last resort. It is a bit scary to see all these kids stuffed with antidepressants. And benzos? This is even worse.

Definitely seek second opinion - in UK, antidepressants are not licensed to use in children below 16 due to increased danger of suicidal thoughts, self harm and violence.

Good luck.
 
^ thank you, atleast im not the only one that thinks giving a kid kpins is a HORRIBLE idea especially if he hasnt been properly evaluated yet
 
bpayne. Its different now a days. People have changed our DNA structure is always changing. Think of it this way. I read somewhere that viruses and dieseses and mental disorders are embedded into everyones DNA it just takes the right variables to set them off.
 
SDforever420 said:
bpayne. Its different now a days. People have changed our DNA structure is always changing. Think of it this way. I read somewhere that viruses and dieseses and mental disorders are embedded into everyones DNA it just takes the right variables to set them off.
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you are absolutley right

certain drugs can actually trigger certain mental illness
if you check cannabis on erowid i know it mentions somewhere that smoking weed can trigger mental disorders you never knew you had
speed and uppers can turn u into a full blown psychotic skitzo
even traumatic experiences can cause these disorders to trigger (PTSD)
 
yeah well I don't think the changes are making us better off, in my fathers day,it was hard work, studying and more hard work, Ethic, becoming a man was what is was all about, they didn't allow have that many mental problems and quite frankly you didn't start hearing about them so much until all these weirdo drugs were being thrown at people, nowadays it seems every other person you meet has some kinda weird mental condition and needs 30 types of medicine to "cope" and is handled with "kid gloves" when all they probably really need is a swift kick in the ass and told to get in gear or get left behind. I mean cmon, there is a reason some people are successful and others are not, some are INSTILLED with a work ethic and values.
 
and also man we ALL get scared and have anxiety dude it's a part of life, and yes even NORMAL anxiety can be crippling, I've had it plenty of times, and so has everyone else alive, we all have it WE NEED it, it's part of our survival pattern. The only difference is some of us feel this anxiety and push through it, and face what we are doing as scared as we may be, and guess what after facing it a couple or three times, that anxiety lessens a little bit and viola your past it, no pills needed, people this day and age need to toughen up, lawd what if we had some real apocolyptic shit happen and you had to fight for your own life and had to hunt for your own food and shit, half these people would die off in the first 10 years.
 
The reason you never herd of there things back in the days is because 1. they didnt have the meds for it 2. They threw a lot of people is psyc wards and Homes. And now they have drugs to help people function and be part of society and your telling them its all in there head and they need to get over it? OP dont listen to this
 
Exentric said:
Lexapro (escitalopram) 10 mg once daily
Klonopin 0.25mg bid.
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Whoa, whoa! It makes me quite disturbed to read this!

In my opinion, a 9 year old child being prescribed these types of drugs is really extreme.

I strongly suggest you seek a second opinion, if not a third or fourth. Also, I know you mentioned that you can't afford CBT which is fair enough, because it can be quite expensive. But in this case I think any therapy would be better than no therapy, so is there perhaps a school counsellor or community centre counselling service available for your son?

Also, and I say this with the utmost respect for you, but children often mimic the behaviour of their parents. How is your mental health at this stage? Are you depressed?? If so, perhaps you should seek some help as well. I know this because from the time I was about 9 years old my father was very very depressed and I know for a fact that in a way it "taught" me to be depressed. Obviously there are genetic factors as well, but if a child sees their parent acting in a despairing manner, they will learn that that is the easiest way to deal with their emotions. Know what I mean? So from about 11 years of age I was depressed, and pretty much have been ever since, I'm now 26. I am one of 5 children, and I'm the second youngest. None of my siblings suffer with depression like I do, and I am pretty sure that I suffer with depression more than my siblings because of my father's depression that I witnessed at that impressionable age.
So perhaps if you think that your mental health could do with some attention, for the sake of your child, please seek help. Lead by example and show your son that mental illness can be solved with persistence and hard work, not just medication.
 
I can only suggest things that I have had experience of. I have ADHD and have an underactive thyroid, both of which can cause depression.

an underactive thyroid makes you tired a lot and put you in a bad mood/depression. If he is tired a lot then it is worth getting this checked, expecially if you or other memebers of your family also have it or have other autoimmune diiseases.

ADHD causes things like distractibility, impulsivity, hyperactivity etc if it is the hyperactive type or forgetfullness, tiredness, lack of motivation, low concentration/attention span if it is the innatentive type. If he does things like forgets what people say and doesnt listen, leaved his possessions places and forgets where, finds it hard to keep track or time, etc then he may have this and you should ask the doctor about it. What are his school reports like?

The feeling of being inadequate because of these symptoms can cause depression. People with ADHD are also more sensitive people because there is a certain inability to regulate emotions.
 
^^ Excellent input jonny, thank you. It further supports that a second opinion should definitely be gained.
 
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