What can I do to help my friend?

Question

Okay, my friend is 13 years old and she had recently statred smokeing (I don't do any of that stuff though). She all so cuts her self and has tried to make her self puke. In the beganing of the year when I found out that she cut I told are school consuler, who told her mom, who got her a consuler. She is on 2 ADHD meds, 1 depprsion med and a sleepling pill. I am really worred about her, is there any thing I can do?

Answer 1

Sweetie, all you can do is be there for her and to be sure the counselor knows about your friend's self mutilation and puking. Now she is smoking which is another destructive behavior. She is on a path toward self destruction. Some reasons are trauma, eating disorders, low self-esteem or perfectionism.

She really needs psychiatric help and lots of counseling which I hope she is receiving and might be since she in on depression medication. Is she getting psychiatric help? I ask because if her meds are ordered by the family doctor, she probably isn't. If ordered by a psychiatrist, then she probably is.

However, someone needs to let her parents know that she is not getting better. You are not telling on her, you are trying to be a true friend by helping her. Tell the counselor so she/he can be sure her parents are aware of what is happening.

Make sure she knows how important she is to you and that you care about her. Don't lay a guilt trip on her though because it will intensify her feelings of inadequacy. You just want her to know that you care and will always be there for her. She is lucky to have such a caring friend!