SelfhelpMagazine

by LuAnn Pierce, MSW, CMSW

You are doing the right thing by looking for help. Being a parent is hard enough, but it takes really special parents to seek mental health help for their child.

Teens Anxiety as a Medical Condition
If the fear is so great as to prohibit her from leaving your home in the evening, it warrants professional assessment. That assessment would best be done in person, locally, by a trained and licensed professional.

The mental health professions consider any behavior to be a problem if it interferes with social or occupational functioning. From your description, your daughter's fears seem to be interfering with her own functioning as well as yours.

Fears generally fall in the category of "anxiety disorders" or "phobias". Without knowing more about her I can't be more specific.

Anxiety disorders can be triggered by any number of things, at any age, real or perceived. Often the treatment required to deal with the problem has to do with changing the way we think. This is sometimes coupled with medication, but not always.

I would caution against trying medication without psychotherapy to address the thinking errors that may be leading to the problem or to uncover other problems that are related to and contribute to her fears. Another reason to avoid the use of medication alone is that once the medication stops, the fears usually come back, and adequate coping mechanisms are rarely learned without the help of a psychotherapist.

Unfortunately, many insurance companies would rather just pay for you to give your daughter pills. Pills are less expensive than paying for professional time every week, but also less effective.

If you want to discuss your concerns with other people who have similar circumstances, try the SelfhelpMagazine Community Forums. They can tell you of their experiences with and without medication and help you make more informed decisions about how to proceed.

Good luck!

About the Author:

LuAnn Pierce, MSW, CMSW is the author of Growing up Sane (in uncertain times), Seminar Leader Growing Well Adjusted Kids, Editor-in-Chief Person to Person: Strengthening Youth & Families and Telephone Counselor Affinity Counseling Center.