I don’t know about you, but trips to the psychiatrist always boost my spirits. Ever the optimist, I am always hopeful that this time we will find the right combination of medications to make life easier. Today was Lyn’s appointment and I think I may have seemed a little desperate when I spoke with her psychiatrist. Her words and actions lately haven’t had too much to do with reality.

She has been seeing the same psychiatrist for medications for the past three years. He was also the psychiatrist who saw my now adult daughter for six years, so we have a long history.... more

Today when I took the four-year-old, “A” to her counseling session I got an unexpected surprise. The therapist who provides her counseling looked me in the eyes and said, “We need to talk.” I was a little apprehensive as I followed her into her office.

Then she said those dreaded words, the ones you hate to hear from a therapist if you have a special needs child. “I’m afraid that I’ve done all I can for “A,” so I’d like to close out her case.” My brain screamed, “WHAT, YIKES, ARE YOU SERIOUS?” I looked at her calmly and nodded.

She... more

There is a family of psychotropic medications that are sometimes prescribed as a first-line treatment for children with a variety of emotional issues…they are known as “mood stabilizers” or “anticonvulsants”. This family of medications includes:

Depakote Lamictal Tegretol Topomax Trileptal Neurontin

Lithium, probably the most prescribed mood stabilizers, is not an anticonvulsant medication.

Most people associate these medications with a diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder,... more

I’ll admit it. The medication that first struck fear into my heart when the psychiatrist advised it was a blood pressure medication called Clonidine. It was early in our journey of working with our psychiatrist. And I was terrified and feeling very guilty that I had acquiesced to medicating my 6-year-old. Messing with her blood pressure sounded very dangerous to me.

I have since learned that the use of these hypertensive medications to control impulsivity is rather commonplace and definitely not the most risky move that a doctor can make when treating our complicated... more

Is Intermittent Explosive Disorder (IED) just a childhood disorder? Have you ever heard of “road rage?” Seemingly, normal adults become suddenly berserk over a tailgater. This happened to my teenager a few weeks ago. A young man got out of his car, swore at my teenager, whacked him on the helmet, threatened him, and then got back into his car.

Intermittent Explosive Disorder is one of the Impulse-Control Disorders. The symptoms of intermittent explosive disorder (IED) are repeated incidents, at least three, of aggressive... more

For children with attentional problems (ADD/ADHD) for whom stimulants don’t work, doctors will often prescribe Strattera. It is the “different” medication for ADHD. The stimulant meds (Ritalin, Concerta, Adderall, etc.) all work by suppression the brain chemical dopamine. Strattera works on norepinephrine.

For many who are not helped by traditional ADHD meds, or for whom the stimulants produced too many side effects, Strattera is a wonderful thing. In children with co-morbid conditions (this means more than one disorder existing together), Strattera may be the... more

Another medication that can spark a debate quickly is Risperdal, an atypical anti-psychotic that has been recently approved by the FDA for use with autistic children and adolescents. Risperdal the first medication to be approved for the treatment of behavioral symptoms associated with autism – for things like aggression, deliberate self-injury, and temper tantrums.

While it’s encouraging to know that Risperdal has been determined safe for use in autistic children, truth is psychiatrists have been prescribing it for children for quite some time. Previously it has been approved for treating schizophrenia... more

Nothing is more controversial in parenting circles than giving your child psychotropic meds. Parents are often confused by the advice they receive. Opinions are polarized. And no medication is more controversial than the well-known ADHD medication: Ritalin. Ritalin, the brand name for Methylphenidate is the medication most often prescribed to children. It is estimated that 75% of the prescriptions of Ritalin are written for children.

Other medications in the same “family” of stimulant treatments for ADHD include... more

In the world of special needs moms, psychiatrist is sometimes a dirty word. It conjures up images of egomanics who won’t listen to knowledgeable parents and totally misunderstand our children’s disorders…and continue to tinker and tinker with the medications and dosages.

LuLu has been seeing her psychiatrist for the last four years…and our experience couldn’t be more positive. I know, because others tell me all the time, just how lucky we are. We saw LuLu’s psychiatrist today. She is such a dear. She listened to me and to LuLu before making the obvious... more

I didn’t realize how lucky we are to have so many Psychiatrist and Psychologist in our area who specialize in traumatized children, until some of my friends moved away. They really had a hard time finding a Psychiatrist who understood the emotional damage that abuse and neglect can make on a child. Understand it well enough to prescribe medications in doses, or combinations, which will be effective in helping the anger, the anxiety, the OCD, PTSD,... more