Posted by islandangel on October 1, 2008, at 15:09:46
In reply to Re: 13 yr girl w/Clinical Vampirism + mental illness? » islandangel, posted by seldomseen on October 1, 2008, at 3:27:32
> Does her father know what is going on? What is his stance on all of this?>
Yes, her father and I talked about it. He is very laid back and says let the psychologist/therapist figure out whether she has mental illness and needs psychiatric help.
> A lot of kids go through a very very dark period, hence the whole goth thing, and it's okay.
>Honestly, she's always been dark and only has one friend at school. She is the type of child who never had a barbie cause she'd rip the head off.
> There are several questions that come to my mind:>
> How much is this interfering with her life? How is she doing in school (her grades etc..). Has she gotten in trouble at school for her behaviour? Any trouble with the law?>No trouble with the law at 13 she is fairly anti social & immature. We met with the school counselor. She has gotten a couple of detentions due to horseplay and not handing in assignments.We have to battle to get her to show us homework and grades.She has only 12 girls in her class and teachers are very involved. She is a master at charming adults & teachers, thats part of the Reactive Attachment disorder.
> If this child is essentially drinking biohazards, then there are much bigger issues here I think than maintaining her confidence. SHe is in a very real way endangering her life. >
I told her this. She answered with she knew the risks & mentioned HIV as well as hepatitis. We just have no proof of cutting to draw blood from herself or others although she claims she has consumed a lot of blood.
> I think she *is* testing you to see how much of a mother versus a friend you actually will be. Sometimes kids need a parent a lot more than they need another friend.>
Her birth Mom tries to play friend. I refuse to do that. She does need a Mom but she doesn't want me as one. Whenever she realizes she's getting close she creates drama with me.
> If this has progressed to actual risk taking and self harm, then I would let the confidences go and engage the father and any other resources at my disposal to help this child.>
Keeping her confidence allows her to continue to share with me, which could help us help her more in counseling. I think we have to keep a close eye on her. I guess I'm just not patient and I want to know if she needs psychiatric care in addition to her therapist. I'm quietly monitoring as much as possible. Maybe we need to talk with the psychologist about finding a way to address the issue but she may shut down and then we will find out nothing about what she is doing behind closed doors or when we aren't looking.
poster:islandangel
thread:854970
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/child/20070211/msgs/855111.html