jenthgr8

Oh Lord...there's an ungodly amount of things that could cause it. Bipolar disorder, abuse (physical, mental, sexual, emotional - there may be inadequate communication between the two of you), OCD, BPD, PPD, Schizotypy etc. It might have nothing to do with how you raised her, some mental disorders are entirely pathological. Just take her to a psychologist and if they are shit, take her to a psychiatrist. I'm not sure where you live...but there are dozens of loopholes you can jump through to have all of this completed for free (ex. educational psychologist -> youth psychologist -> ado psych).

I'm surprised she burns, though...that's considerably more painful (and scarring) compared to cutting, which given the severity leads me to believe it's a mental disorder of sorts.

Thanks, Broken. She's seeing the therapist on Tuesday.

The most fucked up thing is how she keeps insisting she's not mentally screwed up, she keeps saying she just likes how it feels. Obviously that in itself is pretty fucking screwed up.

I hate to see my sweet little girl doing this to herself. Hopefully the therapist can shed some light on why she's doing this, and help her to find another way to cope with her feelings.

Fuck.

Children do this sort of thing because they hear about other children doing this sort of thing.

I know you're just being hilarious, Pete, but that thought actually did occur to me.

Originally Posted by jenthgr8

I know you're just being hilarious, Pete, but that thought actually did occur to me.

Tis the truth right and proper I speak.

Trust not in doctors....trust only in the back of thy hand. Use it without compunction.

I'm blanking at the moment, but one piece of advice I can think of is, don't let her think you're upset with her about it, although I think letting her know you don't fully understand is important.

So, how'd it go with the therapist?

I am also a burner.
I burn myself with my cigarettes. But I haven't burned in, oh, i guess 2 years now.
I burn because "This is what's wrong with me. I can fix this."
The mental illness isn't so easily fixed.
Right now the best thing for her is therapy which is what you are doing. Yeah, she's going to hate your for it, but far better that than her to get seriously hurt.

Therapist went OK. She didn't fight it at all, that's not her way. In spite of a little attitude here and there, she's a very well behaved kid. She started getting bad grades, got in trouble for it, brought them up. That sort of thing. She's really a good girl and she is the type to just go along with things.

She's only had one therapy appointment so far, the therapist went out of town for 2 weeks immediately following the first session. Next appointment is Thursday. No recent burns, so that's my silver lining.