Winona Belmonte

Most psychotropic medications are not FDA-approved for children, but these are the only medications available. My question is, are you sure about the diagnosis of ADHD? Because Risperdal is an antipsychotic and also could work as a mood stabilizer for patients with bipolar disorder. I am curious as to why this is the choice of medication if the diagnosis for sure is ADHD. And for the question of whether this is a safe medication for children - it is commonly used in children and I have not heard much if any adverse effect on children. But like any medication, there is always potential for side effects...it’s a matter of weighing the pros and con when it comes to children taking psychotropic medications. If your child’s diagnosis is truly ADHD, meds are usually Ritalin, adderall, straterra. Sometimes Wellbutrin, clonidine, and guanfacine also have been used.

Other than feeling sad, what else do you feel? I would say that if it is to a point of affecting your daily functioning and affecting your ability to enjoy anything that you usually enjoy doing and maybe have constant thoughts of death. Best to see a psychiatrist to get evaluated and treated if deemed necessary. There is such a thing as late onset depression. Full evaluation of your symptoms, medications you take, your physical health, psychosocial issues, if any, would be beneficial to you, and a good psychiatrist will do this.

I think if you had the child since she was a baby, and essentially you are the parents that she’s known since she started having an awareness of his/her environment, and you raise her in a loving and supportive environment, that she should be fine. There are a lot of adopted children that grow up doing well with no issues.
But common issue of abandoned children is the attachment disorder.
I think if you raise the baby like your own and she or he is not transferred from one home to another, The baby will be fine.
Maybe the thing to watch out for is if your sister has a psychiatric disorder, that this may potentially be inherited by the child and will manifest at a certain age. Psychiatric disorders mostly have a genetic component to them especially mood anxiety psychotic and substance use disorders.

If this is so, are you getting treatment for your depression? If you’re not, then you should. Once your depression is in remission and you still have self-esteem and self-confidence issues, then you need to see a therapist to address this, and likely they are 2 separate entities. If your depression is in remission after treatment and you find you have gained your confidence back, then you have your answer - the depression caused your diminishing self-confidence.

Kleptomania is considered to be in the spectrum of impulse control disorder, so in knowing this, medication could definitely help and at the same time psychotherapy would be helpful as well so the patient would be able to explore where the urges are coming from and by knowing this, then it will be easier to address and correct.

Yes. At times, food becomes a way to self medicate. You probably have other symptoms that you experience other than the “wanting to eat all the time.” You have to explore within you or with the help of a therapist the underlying issue that you are trying to satisfy or mask with food. Therapy will be helpful.

You can try cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
If depression is not severe, this could be effective, BUT, if your symptoms are severe where the best gauge is your ability to function in your usual level of functioning. If this has diminished, if your unable to find joy in anything... then medication most likely is necessary... as there is a biological explanation for why depression happens. Usually low levels of serotonin, norepinephrine, and or dopamine. The antidepressants help balance this out.

Our main diagnostics tool as psychiatrists is the DSM 5. Read that chapter on Anxiety disorders and the chapter on Panic disorder... see if the symptoms you experienced match the list of symptoms under those so more or less you will have an idea. If you see that you satisfy the criteria, then you might want to seek further help from a psychiatrist or a therapist.

Counselling is definitely a must in the treatment of anorexia nervosa as this usually stems from the issue of feeling that the person is not in control of a lot of aspects in her life, so the only control they could have is their control of what happens to their body and their eating- which in a lot of ways becomes contradicting to the initial goal of gaining some sense of control as it gets to a point of being out of control again and the disorder takes over the person. Medications definitely will help as eating disorders rarely stand alone. There is usually a comorbid underlying depression, anxiety, or at times even psychosis. So, depending on the whole symptom profile, your psychiatrist will decide whether medication is needed right away or could wait in the course of the treatment.
I hope that helps.

All of the above. There is also now the trend of using medications to help decrease craving for opioids... goal of course is to prevent relapse.

Psychiatrists at Medical Doctors. They definitely can prescribe medications. Are you sure you’re friend is seeing a psychiatrist? Because if your friend is still depressed after a month of treatment and there is no urge for the one she is seeing to prescribe medications and just simply continues on with therapy, most likely you’re friend is seeing a Doctor of Psychology and not a Medical Doctor that treats psychiatric disorders- Psychiatrist. Psychiatrists, however, have the capability of doing both psychotherapy and use of psychotropic medications to treat the psychiatric problem.

You will need to see a therapist that works with phobias.

Depression is also a medical condition and not just psychiatric. Like diabetes that can be inherited, depression is the same. It happens because of the genetic predisposition to low levels of serotonin, norepinephrine and or dopamine or combination of 2 or all 3 of them. This is the simplest way that I can explain it. I usually go into more details when I see my patients.

Based on how you’re describing it, they sound like night terrors. Usually kids do not even have memory of the dream. Best to get her evaluated by a sleep specialist.