Re: Pshychoanalysis anyone?

[Anonymous]

I just thought I would mention that I broached the subject of psychoanalysis with my son today. He was diagnosed with ADHD earlier this year, and we decided to trial stimulants. But he has been reluctant to take his medication recently, and has been very angry at times, so I thought I would offer him another treatment option. It is his life, after all, so he should be able to have some choice in the matter.

Anyway, I explained a bit about what psychoanalysis was, and included the fact that it could be challenging, confronting, and hard work, but that it also had the potential to greatly improve his life. I explained the confidentiality of the sessions, and the possible frequency and length of treatment. He asked a few questions, and I answered the best I could, and then suddenly, out of nowhere, he started venting a heap of frustrations. It seemed like our discussion about therapy prompted him to let fly with all this emotional baggage he has been holding onto. Some of his friends have left his school to go elsewhere (for varying reasons), and others have “changed”, so he is feeling abandoned by them. His teachers have been frustrating him for many reasons, and he feels like leaving the school. Boy, was that a surprise!! I knew he had his frustrations, but not that they were so many and so depressing for him.

The upshot of it was that my son is willing to try therapy (psychoanalysis), so I will ask around to find somebody suitable. I think he will be a good “patient”. He has strength of character and is quite articulate with his speech. I would love to get my daughter into therapy, as anxiety plagues her daily, but she is more fragile and has difficulty expressing herself at times. I would really have to dig around to find a good therapist match for her. We went down the CBT route, but she intensely disliked going. She happily went to a social skills group, but she stubbornly stuck to her belief that she had no problems with her behaviours and did not need to change! She believes that it is the other people in her life who need to change, not her. She was the only one in the group who did not show any improvement 🙄 Her teacher this year has had more of a beneficial effect on her than her psychologist!!

Ooops, I did not mean to ramble on so much!! I always seem to have so much to say 😳

@dspicelady – thank you for your post, by the way. It was invaluable to see how your thoughts on therapy changed as your treatment progressed. I hope I have the same progress!

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