Re: I am worried about my 7 1/2 year old daughter..

Posted By Christine on June 29, 1999 at 21:26:23
My daughter has been having behavior problems for about 2 1/2 years.  We have tried everything,  Timeouts, groundings, trying to get her to talk about her feelings...ect.  She has trouble being organized, esp. in school.  She hits her little brother, and has hit me!  She uses profanity, and her favorite phrases are "so? " and "who cares?"  She lies and makes up stories.  She says that I don't love her when I try to have her do something, example, cleaning up her room.  She screams and throws a fit.  She usually doesn't do what I tell her without a lot of fussing and arguing.  I don't like arguing with her, but she has the attitude that I can't make her, if she don't want to.  When she was younger, we had to stay with my mom, I almost lost her brother, and my mom was always telling me how mean I was to her, because I tried to have rules for her to go by, could this be the problem?  Lately, she has been acting up on mama too.  She started complaining of headaches about 4 months ago.  I didn't know whther to beleive her, because the only time, she would mention them is if she didn't want to go to school or I lwas trying to get her to do something she didn't want to.  Could her behavior problems be related to the headaches, because, for the past two weeks, she has complained about her head, "it feels like an ax and this pressure is just squezzing it"  right in the middle of her forehead and behind her right eye, and squezzing on both sides of head in front.  Her behavior has also gotten worse.  I took her to the doctor, he is treating her for sinitusis, I think I misspelled that, So far the medicine doesn't seem to be helping, sorry to have taken so much of your time, but I am worried.. Thank you for any information and advice.  

[HVM Ph.D. - KDK]

Posted By HVM Ph.D. - KDK on June 30, 1999 at 07:45:43
Dear Christine,
Re: your daughter's difficult behavior, it would be wise to seek an evaluation with a child mental health professional. Her defiant, aggressive and oppositional behavior is clearly beyond the normal spectrum of childhood behavior problems. Her symptoms are typical of a group of childhood conditions called Disruptive Behavior Disorders; she may be displaying a Mood Disorder which, in childhood, is often manifested by difficult, angry behavior. In any case, please consult a child mental health professional - you will be able to receive help.










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