Anxiety Attacks.

[Anne in CA]

Please don't quote, I'm going to remove this later.

 

I was helping dd clean her room today and I found a piece of notebook paper that she had written a note on. In the note she said that she had a serious anxiety attack at a friend's house and the note hinted, but did not come right out and say, that she has had other anxiety attacks. I am worried that she didn't tell me, but she is extremely private and I understand why she didn't.

 

She has had more trouble in the last year than her whole life combined. Done a bunch of stuff that teens often do, but she did it all in less than a year. A few weeks ago she began exorcising and eating healthier and has become much more her old self. I wouldn't be too worried about her but...

 

My family has a history of undiagnosed anxiety that people end up self medicating for. My mom doesn't self medicate but she is such a political nut that I miss her hoarding days. Whenever someone complains about a hoarding relative I always thing, "It could be worse..."

 

I don't know. It sounds nutty, but I do NOT want to confront her, no matter how nicely, and take the chance that she regresses back to some of the bad behavior of the last year. She is being "herself" again in the last few weeks and I don't want to mess that up. 

 

Anyone with experience want to chime in????

 

[maize]

I don't think that avoiding talking about mental health problems makes them less likely to re-occur or to worsen. I do think you should open communication with her, in a very supportive, entirely non-judgmental way. Maybe find a book about anxiety written for teens?

[Anne in CA]

Finding a good book is probably a nice, nurturing thing to do. I do know we should talk about it, it's just been a rough year.

[RegGuheert]

I have had a few anxiety attacks, but in my case they were not traumatic or overly problematic.  Some of them were triggered by something that occurred, other times they just happened for no apparent reason.  For the types of attacks which I have experienced, I don't think they would be an issue unless they occurred frequently.

 

Do you think the attacks you have described were a problem?

[Guest]

Hmmmmmmmm I will say this. When I was a teenaged person, I wrote a lot of stuff on paper that was irrelevant in every way. Ymmv

Edited November 23, 2016 by OKBud

[wintermom]

If you still have the note, I'd just ask her about it. It doesn't have to be a confrontation at all, just a conversation. Becoming informed about whether she has had anxiety attacks, and for her to become more informed about the many positive ways people can deal with them, seems to be a better route than continuing the family tradition of undiagnosed anxiety.

[momacacia]

And you could address it as, "you know, this has been a thing in.our family. I want you to be aware of it. It happens. To lots of people! Can we suggest ways to approach it in a healthy/strong/wise way..these are things that have helped me or others."

 

I really thinking learning about important familial weaknesses (all families have them) should be part of growing up, just like learning about and.developing personal strengths. Forwarned, forearmed.