I will be happy to share what we have found to be moderately effective with our DD15 in the NJ are with access to be NYC and Philly resources.
It is painful to write this but our DD15 has suffered from depression and anxiety for years. Last summer she asked for help with it - she has been (during her nadir, at grave risk of self harm). She also turned out to have attention deficits which her giftedness had masked for years. We have gone the route of DBT (very good practice in the Princeton area), counseling and prescribed medications.
We initially tried just DBT alone and then more counseling which consumed just too many hours per week on top of 3 AP classes (calc BC, chem and bio) which she did not want to give up. We dropped the counseling for now. The counselor is in Englewood and she was quite helpful to my wife and I giving us some good insights into our own reactions to our DD.
Through some friends in the Philly area who are Psychiatrists themselves we learned of a great child psychiatrist who has prescribed medications to help our DD ‘reboot’ her brain. The results have been promising. From my catching DD still slogging away at 2am she was getting her homework done and was able to socialize online on evenings and weekends which is a major transformation!
She is much better organized and happier these days. It seems that Minecraft is cool again and she has a gaggle if friends with whom is is regularly Minecrafting or D&Ding for hours at a time now it is summer.
I resisted going the pharmaceutical route for a long time but now regret doing that after seeing our DD so much happier.
Sharing all of this hoping that it will help others.
I will be happy to share names etc over PM but not on a post to a public forum. PM me if you want more details.
