depression

Should Your Child Be Using Zyprexa?

Submitted by JuliaFuller on Thu, 12/10/2009 - 04:05

A group of medicines known as atypical antipsychotics including, Zyprexa, Seroquel, Abilify, Geodon, and Risperdal were recently scrutinized by the FDA for their use in treating children with bipolar and schizophrenia symptoms. Drug reviewers feel that further study may be warranted for the metabolic effects these drugs have on children. This scrutiny was initiated in part by a study of health insurance claims indicating that children treated with atypical antipsychotics "were much more likely to experience an adverse metabolic effect than adults, and the likelihood was directly correlated with age." These adverse effects include weight gain, diabetes, and increases in blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Trauma Tuesday: PTSD and Cycles of Emotions

Submitted by FaithA on Tue, 06/30/2009 - 08:00

Traumatized Adopted Child (c) Julie C

I recently cycled out of a very intense, two-week cycle of emotions that were a symptom of my post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While it is fresh on my mind (and psyche!), I thought I would share what it feels like from the inside to help you understand your abused child a little better.

Anyone with PTSD might experience some form of this cycling of emotions. The symptoms will be much more intense for anyone who suffered from ritual abuse like I did.

It started with mild feelings of anxiety. I could not relax. I noticed myself slipping back into some of my anxiety-control tics, such as blowing on my hands. I could not pinpoint why, only that I was feeling a bit out of sorts.

Next came the headache. As the stress began to build inside of me, my head began to pound. I became cranky and had a shorter temper than normal. I was less able to shake off the minor irritations of life with humor, which is my normal way of coping with the day-to-day annoyances that arise.

Sleep loss came next.

Does Parenting Special Needs and Foster Children Cause Adrenal Fatigue?

Submitted by FosterMommy on Mon, 03/16/2009 - 17:10

 

Adrenal Fatigue is a syndrome where the Adrenal glands are functioning below levels necessary for vitality and well-being. The most common cause is from being subjected to intense or prolonged stress, although adrenal fatigue may also follow acute or chronic infections. When I came across this syndrome, it struck me that many foster parents and those parenting special needs and traumatized children may be suffering from adrenal fatigue. What could be more stressful than parenting a RAD child, PTSD child, bi-polar child, insulin dependent child, or other challenging child? You talk about prolonged stress, parenting a special needs child is

Signs of Depression and SAD – A Foster and Special Needs Adoptive Parenting Dilemma

Submitted by FosterMommy on Sun, 03/08/2009 - 20:02

In my previous blog “Do Depression and Foster Parenting or Special Needs Adoption Go Hand in Hand?” I talked about some of the reasons a foster or adoptive parent of a special needs child might suffer from depression. Of course, depression can be exacerbated during the winter months from a lack of sunshine. This is because sunshine helps our bodies absorb vitamin D; a deficiency can cause depression-like symptoms.

Do Depression and Foster Parenting or Special Needs Adoption Go Hand in Hand?

Submitted by FosterMommy on Fri, 03/06/2009 - 18:07

Do depression and foster parenting or special needs adoption go hand and hand? If you have been, or you are, doing either, you are probably agreeing that yes, they do. If you have done neither, you may wonder why parenting a child in need of home would cause depression. You are serving the community, intervening in a needy child’s life. Surely, these accomplishments should fill a person with pride, dignity, and hope. Have you ever heard a person say, “I could never foster, I just would get too attached”? Read between the lines here, does that mean that the foster parent is an uncaring person, who never attaches? If you think about it, you might see that saying that to a foster parent is an insult. The fact is, we do get attached to our foster children. We give them love and every possible opportunity for as long as they live with us. We make them part of our family, we celebrate holidays with them, we tuck them in at night. Then, out of the blue sometimes, the state sends them home. Sometimes, we foster parents, never get to see the child again. That’s right, after a year, or four, of putting our all into a child, we never see the child again.

Signs of Depression in Teens

Submitted by JulieC on Sat, 11/08/2008 - 22:27

Depressed teens will exhibit noticeable changes in both their thinking and their behavior. They may show little to no motivation and can become withdrawn even from the family, secluding themselves behind their closed bedroom door for hours at a time.

Difficulties within the family, losing a loved one, short comings at school, or in a relationship can all begin as negative feelings but can turn into full blown depression in your teenager.

Depressed teens often see their problems as completely overwhelming and the pain associated with those problems as utterly unbearable. 

 

Depressed Teens May:

  • Sleep excessively,
  • Have a change in eating habits,
  • Exhibit criminal or rebellious behaviors
  • Exhibit apathy

Trauma Thursday: How to Help an Adopted Child Express Anger

Submitted by FaithA on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 08:45

Traumatized Adopted Child (c) JulieC

As I shared on Trauma Tuesday in my post Relationship Between Anger and Anxiety & Depression, traumatized adopted children who repress their anger often struggle with anxiety, depression, or both. While some anxiety and depression can have a biological cause, adopted children who suffered from trauma, such as abuse or neglect, are very likely to be repressing their anger, which can cause or exacerbate issues with anxiety or depression.

If you are parenting a traumatized adopted child who rarely or never expresses anger, then your child needs you to teach him or her how to do it. Children who grow up in unsafe homes do not learn how to express their anger safely, so they need you to provide them with the tools for doing this.

Trauma Tuesday: Relationship Between Anger and Anxiety & Depression

Submitted by FaithA on Tue, 09/30/2008 - 07:45

Traumatized Adopted Child (c) Julie C

Most people are unaware that there is a strong link between repressed anger and experiencing anxiety and depression. If you are parenting a traumatized adopted child who is exhibiting signs of anxiety, depression, or both, it is very likely that your traumatized adopted child is repressing anger. Until your traumatized adopted child processes his or her repressed anger, all the Xanax or Zoloft in the world is not going to fix the problem.

Anger is a very powerful emotion that must be expressed. When a child experiences trauma, whether through abuse, neglect, or another source, anger is a normal response. For the child living in an unsafe environment, there is no safe place to express the anger. So, the child stuffs the anger back down inside of himself.

That repressed anger does not just go away. If the child refuses to turn the anger outward, then the anger will turn itself inward. Anger turned inward manifests itself in the form of anxiety, depression, or both.

Compassion and Understanding

Submitted by JulieC on Sun, 04/20/2008 - 10:00

These are two things that I am desperately working on when it comes to my oldest son and the issues that we are currently having with him.  He has been lying up a storm both over the important, as well as the mundane, failing classes in school, and being about as lazy as humanly possible.  I know that the lazy part is typical for his age, but the lack of pride in anything that he does, is not.  I am normally an extremely compassionate and understanding person, but lately I have been having a very tough time conjuring either of them up.

I am trying very hard to understand what is going on with him, yet I have come up with nothing, and if he knows, he sure as heck isn’t sharing it with the rest of us, merely blaming us for his inability to complete and turn in his class work.  How it can be our fault is beyond me - we had no idea that he even had the work because he lied to us about it. However that is his current story and I would imagine that he is sticking to it. Neither his father nor I have ventured to ask a second time.

He is definitely depressed at this point, but I would expect that from a person who is grounded from a favored activity, as well as  being in poor academic standing in school. Combined it truly leaves little to be happy about.