Here is a summary of what happened at the psychiatrist today. Her teacher wishes to know the results of the appointment, but I'm not sure what I should share. The teacher is so warm and kind and understanding toward DD, and toward us as parents. I wonder if this report will change that. What do you think? :
Overall the psychiatrist appointment was not very productive in my opinion. The first hour consisted of discussion with the parents. During this hour, DD told to draw with markers or play with legos. There were other toys in view, but Alison was not allowed to play with them. She was actively discouraged from interacting with the adults during this time. This was supposed to be just "adult" conversation. The psychiatrist was not warm or friendly toward her, and did not want her to be interacting with us during the adult time. For part of the time, Alison was able to occupy herself with the markers and legos, but she soon got restless, bored, and then angry. Finally, it was time for DD to have one-on-one time with the psychiatrist while the parents left the room. DD was in a very agitated state at this point, and it was reported that she was very uncooperative with the psychiatrist and would not answer her questions. We were told that her development and her issues were normal, and that we should set firm limits with her and allow her to get frustrated and angry without quickly intervening. The psychiatrist felt that DD's statements, such as "I want to get killed", are an attention-seeking behavior, and not indicative of depression. She offered no strategies for dealing with her issues of frustration, anger-management, overgeneralization, and perfectionism, etc, but seemed to think that her growing up as an only child with responsive parents who tend to focus their attention on her -- is the cause of her difficulties adapting to the school environment where she cannot be the center of attention.
