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I finally have a tentative appointment for the kidlet to see a therapist! Gaaah. She picked a fine time to go looney on me. I suppose now is better than when her father's insurance has been cancelled - but still...

I believe she's suffering from clinical depression. Her dad's side of the family are all prone to mood-disorders, and she takes after the lot of them. For a couple of weeks, she was really "down". Lost interest in her usual activities. Looked at the glass half empty. Drove me nuts. I started calling the therapists her insurance company referred me to, but nobody could see her - either they didn't take adolescents, or they were going on vacation or whatnot. I started her on St. John's Wort in the interim. St. John's Wort does act a whole lot like poor-man's Prozac. She perked up somewhat and began enjoying her life a bit more than she had been. But she still is experiencing a sort of sleep-phobia. The biggest symptom seems to be getting a song stuck in her head. I mean, we've all had that happen, but every single night???? She says that she fights hearing "the song" and the stress of fighting the song, makes it hard for her to drift off to sleep. But the thing is - she DOES drift off to sleep. She just thinks she won't every night, and we have to go through a whole ordeal behind it, with backrubs and sound machines and the television on. Weird stuff.

I'm feeling confident that her sleep thing is tied to the depression. Maybe she needs a little more oomph from a medication or something. I dunno. She has a tentative appointment tomorrow with a very nice sounding therapist. But he has a cold, so he may need to reschedule. I'm hopeful.

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Oh, and I would just like to add: Spike lapping blood from Buffy's arm? Yummmmmmmmm.

November 20, 2002