Posted by Lyrical13 on December 21, 2003, at 10:31:44
In reply to Re: My sister is cutting...how do I help? » Lyrical13, posted by judy1 on December 21, 2003, at 10:10:46
> she is so lucky to have you- please keep those lines of communication open. I don't know the percentage of people who SI that were abused (I think it's fairly high), but not all SIers were abused. It's fairly common at that age, some kids imitate each other- and once you get that endorphin rush from SIing, it becomes a difficult habit to break. How seriously does she do it- does she have to have stitches? Some people have been helped by meds, (I have not ). What has helped me is therapy and skills that compensate for the cutting. She needs a therp experienced with this, hopefully you can convince her. best of luck- judy
So far no stitches. The cuts look like they are about 1-2 inches long so she probably should have had stitches. No one knew about this until a couple months ago. Last week she showed me a place on her leg where she cut herself in 6th grade....it looked like she had cut repeatedly in the same area. When we had sister night a couple days ago I talked to her about going back to counseling. She's a very intelligent girl.. and from personal experience..I hated having things shoved down my throat and my mom trying to "fix" me (in my case, I got the help I needed..she was right..I did need help..what I resented was that she was just as messed up as me and wasn't getting help) Anyway...slight digression....all that to say..I try to just put the info out there, make suggestions and then let her decide for herself. She seems to respect and appreciate the things I say so hopefully this method of helping will be effective.Thank you for responding so quickly. What meds are you on? How do we find a doc with experience with this? She is on Prozac and Trileptal.. recently increased the Trileptal (she was sounding suicidal) and that seems to have helped. She is being followed by her pediatrician. I have checked up on him and according to 3 respected mental health professionals, he is very good at dealing with adolescent psych issues. However, I don't know how well-versed he is with cutting. Also, a couple months ago she thought her counselor was cool and she really liked her and now she can't stand her. She says she felt worse when she was talking to her. I have a couple thoughts on this. It's possible she didn't like what the counselor said (even though she was on target and maybe it's a little too close to home?) and I know that sometimes you feel worse before you feel better when you're in counseling (speaking from personal experience) It's also possible that this counselor is just not the right person for her.
anyway, I have to get offline now to go to a family Christmas thing. I'll check back later. Thanks again
Lyrical13
poster:Lyrical13
thread:292089
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20031221/msgs/292101.html