Have you found a good way to convince somebody to take anti-depessants?

Question

My daughter (16) sleeps all the time, and her room is a disaster...no...really. It is worse than you can imagine.
The doctor did blood work and there is nothing wrong with her bloodwise.
He suggested a mild anti-depressant, suggesting it could be sub-clinical depression. She says she is not depressed.
I would like her to try it, but of course, I can not force her.
Have you ever been able to convince somebody to take meds?

No...really...she sleeps from the time she gets home from school, until dinner. She eats, sleeps until she takes a shower and then goes to bed for the night.
As for counseling..if she won't admit depression, she won't admit she needs a counselor. I know meds are not great, but her life is passing her by.

Answer 1

Well I hate to tell you. But your daughter seems to be acting pretty typical for her age. Sleeping alot, moodiness, disaster area bedroom. Pretty normal. Before you reach for medication, perhaps the better idea would be some family counseling. Or some one on one counseling for your daughter. By taking her to a mental health professional you may get a better Idea of whats going on. She very well may be depressed, But just taking medicating will not eliminate the problem. It will just mask the symptoms. You could ask her to try counseling earnestly with out medication to let her decide for herself what the best course of action is for her. If she refuses and you cant get her to do that.
Get some counseling yourself to get a perspective on your daughters behavior and what you can do as her mother to take care of her and yourself through this difficult time.
Sometimes medication isn't always the best solution. I suggest you try a few alternate methods first. Once a person starts taking medication for mood disorders or depression....they are more likely to have to take it in the future. There are side affects associated with taking them and also side effects when you stop taking them. Your family Doctor is not an expert in the field of psychology or psychiatry. Find someone who is and go from there.
Hope this helps.

Answer 2

First of all as a parent you should know your daughter's moods like a book! If she just recently started showing these signs yes depression should not be ruled out. Hopefully your doctor is one that you trust...but also do not rule out her age, 16 alot of things may be going on in her life..school, peers, friends...is she a leader or a follower she may be dabbling in drugs you never know I know alot of people may disagree with me...but while she is gone to school you need to do some investigation work..when you feel this deeply about her having a problem and her personality has changed you have the right as a parent to check out everything in her room to see if there are any signs of drug use and such. I have been guilty of this when my kids were younger...especially my eldest son...I found out he was into pot BIG TIME and was drinking before going to school...he told me that years later he is 27 now but then he was about your daughters age,,he said he would even fall asleep on his desk. He was diagnosed at 18 as having manic-depression and is still struggling with to this very day. I also have the same disorder sometimes people use and abuse drugs, alcohol or whatever makes them feel good no one likes the feeling of depression but in actuality all these drugs do after the person comes down is actually make them more depressed...alcohol is a known depressant and illegal drugs too...alcohol is actually the most drug used by society....i guess because it is accepted. Also keep an eye on her try to go and do something together like lunch or go to the mall see a movie...spend a little time with her and then gently explain how much you care about her and ask her what is going on in her life I always told my son that if he ever hurt himself "suicide" you might as well take me with you...because I could not go on if one of my children were taken from me. He has really had to struggle I hope I have not scared you but was of some help but you cannot take this issue lightly ....GET TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS...AND FAST. No teen wants to go to counseling or take pills....but she may be hiding a deep dark secret and it is eating her up inside and to crawl under the covers is sometimes just a coping method.

Answer 3

well, i'm not much older than your daughter. my room was an utmost disaster and i got in trouble for it everytime. in fact, i still have problems staying neat and "Tidy" . but you just have to remember, that not everyone can be neat. there are a lot of people that just can't help it. but, she sleeps a lot? i used to sleep a lot too. if i could, i would stay in bed all day. how is your daughter doing in school? around this period of my life, i had always gotten straight A's. then all of a sudden, i was failing at everything! no one knew what was wrong with me, not even myself. it started getting worse. my friend (whom had clinical depression) told me that she thought i had it (Depression). i was in a state of denial. i was like, of course i'm not depressed ! then a year later, i got out of my denial and went to my doctor. she diagnosed me with Major depression, and i have to take the meds for it. my point is, your daughter may actually be suffering from some sort of depression.

however, with us teens, it's very hard to tell. we are naturally moody and what not. have you thought about counseling? maybe you should go to counseling first. then decide if she should be put on meds later. i'd hate to tell you to put her on anti-depressants, if she doesn't need them. that would be a waste of both money and time. also, anti-depressants are serious. they play around with brain chemistry. so, before the meds, tell her to get some sort of counseling.

good luck and Best Wishes

Answer 4

Anti-depressants have been found more times than not to work right the opposite on young people. Give your daughter time...after all she is only16. There could be an underline problem. Is she having trouble at school? Is she overweight and doesn't feel good about herself? Is she having boyfriend trouble? Is she getting the support she needs at home? Does she not feel pretty enough? and the number one question parent's never want to have to deal with when it comes to their child. Is she doing drugs. She has all the symptoms of it. Anyway you look at it a she needs someone she can talk to. Seek help for her.

Answer 5

There has to be something she wants. Bribe her. All kids either want something or don't want you to take something from them. She's 16 get her a car in exchange for her taking the pills. She'll do whatever you want for a car. Maybe if she had one she'd be out living and not sleeping. The room will remain a mess you have to choose your battles. Try a church youth group to get her involved, maybe some voleenter work with a charity she really belives in or some sort of sport. Depression usually makes a person focus on all the bad stuff about themselves. Charity gets you to focus on a bigger picture and makes your problems seem smaller. If she can tap into whatever it is she is passionate about she'll loose herself and her problems focusing on it and she'll be awake. Oh, and pray, if you have a teenager always pray, I know I was one. My mom survived....barely!

Answer 6

No, but then I try to convince them to change their diet first. Your daughter's condition may be hormonally related to her time of life. Check out the symptoms link at www.hufa.org and see if she is experiencing other symptoms of low blood sugar.

A change in the family's diet away from processed foods, sugar, caffeine, and other high glycemic (check the web for a glycemic index) foods may see a big change in her sleep. The doctor would not have detected this condition unless he did a fasting blood insulin test or a 6 hour glucose tolerance test.

This is the time of life that many teenagers "end it all". I do believe it is because they don't know about puberty/hormonal related depression due to low blood sugar and know it is controllable, or that they will likely grow out of it. A change in diet will help speed the process, if it is hormonally related low blood sugar.

Answer 7

Are you kidding? You want her to take drugs for THAT?

I would NOT give her an antidepressant. ALL teens want to sleep all the time and studies have shown it's because of puberty and changing hormones. They are supposed to sleep between 8-10 hours a night. Not cleaning her room? Come on! That's not a reason to push her into taking meds!

Answer 8

Before taking the drug option what about trying something else? Like councelling? It can work wonders especially on troubled teens. I must say I actually agree with your daughter, drugs should not be pushed on to her just because it may make the problem "go away".

Answer 9

www.antidepressantsfacts.com

Please check out this site, more information is coming out every day about children and antidepressants and it isn't good. Suicide, suicidal behavior, violence, etc. Once you begin taking them, it takes weeks to get them into the system and you may never get them out or be able to get off of them.
Teenagers sometimes sleep alot! And my room was always a disaster. There are phases we go through when growing up, not every teenager can be a neat, energetic, joy to be around. She is still growing, her brain is still developing, please don't mess with nature.

Answer 10

Its so easy to give a kid a pill instead of taking a hands on approach to helping your child.Stop being lazy and do your research on these drugs.You may find that after taking one drug,you have to put the kid on other drugs to counteract the side effects of the original drug.Its a nasty big pharma web.Don't get caught in it.