Thank you for sharing your story. I’m a married, mother of 3 children. Two have grown up and moved out and our youngest, 15 years old, is struggling with anxiety and depression since she was probably 3 but she got dignosed at the age of 8 with severe social and separation anxiety. Since then her mental issues have increased and evolved to depression and in my opinion OCD as well. When she was 8 we could more easily take her to see mential care and professional help but now that she is older she is refusing all treatment. She has done cognitive behavioral training, medication and online support. During one of her sessions with a counselor she was told by the professional that she will never get rid of her anxiety. That is now the core of our current situation with helping our teen daughter get though her struggles. She has given up. Refuses to take meds and does not want to talk to anyone. She refuses to go to school but at the same time is endlessly worried that her grades will not be straight A’s. She doesn’t trust anyone and believes there is no reason to keep working on her mental health because she “will always have it! So what’s the point?” She talked about being tired of her physical and mental exhaustion. Endlessly pretending and tiptoeing around in school just to come home and brake down. She gets headaches, hives, stomach isssues and tiredness. I’ve reached the end of my rope and out of options of help and support for her. She is a strong minded yet fragile soul. She loves laughing but hardly does so any more. She is usually friendly but now she spends hours on end in her room. For days now she has been asking to be removed from school so she can be home schooled. That scares me to death for two reasons: she will be even more isolated and I’ll have to be the one responsible for her education when I’m already in the line of fire when she has a breakdown. I would love to hear from other parents that have similar issues. How do you get your teens to school? How do you get your teens to talk to a professional ? How do you work through a panic attack? Do you homeschool? Sorry lots of questions ... you would think after almost 10 years of having a child with anxiety in the home I would know these things. But to me it feels like as soon as I think we have a grip on things, it collapses. Once I think I know what to do, it doesn’t work anymore. And working with a teen is so much different than with a child. When is it hormones? When are they just being rebellious ? When do they get to choose their treatment or in our case non treatment? I’m just looking for support from others with like situations. And want other parents to hear that they are not alone. ... View more