Reply to Has you child ever taken a medical leave of absence for mental health issues?

Forum Index » College and University Discussion

Reply to "Has you child ever taken a medical leave of absence for mental health issues?"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]As the title suggests, someone close to me has a child leaving school for a medical leave of absence. The kid has struggled with anxiety that has manifested in cutting, anorexia, bulimia and some non-prescribed drug abuse.

It seemed like this person was doing well. The student’s father, who is close to me, is really struggling with this decision. I would love some advice on how to help him. Any advice on how to help the student would be great too, but I’m not family and not that close (I’ve only met the kid a few times) so I don’t think I really have a role to play there.

Have you had a child leave school for mental health reasons, and if so, how did it turn out? It seems to me like it’s a good sign that the kid knows to ask for help, and that taking a semester or two off to get help rather than gut it out is a good thing? Thanks in advance for any help you have.[/quote]

I know someone who did this.  Went home.  Daily (group) therapy for a few months, I think.  Ended up going back to a different college.  Thinks time out/change of environment was really life-saving.  This was a two year (maybe 1.5 year) process — in part because of change of school.  Can be hard on parents who are wondering what comes next, when will kid be ready.  But with love and patience it worked out.

Another friend with a similar story about one of his kids says that in group they’ve gotten to know families where the kid/parents hesitated to take a leave and waited til they had no choice.  At which point the kids were in much worse shape.  He says it’s kind of tragic because these are typically the most talented/successful kids — aka those whose parents felt that they had a lot to lose by admitting there was a problem and taking time off.  Because the context he’s talking about involves addiction, the road back is rockier and some of the damage may be permanent.  [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics