Do you not have a pediatrician?
You want someone who knows your daughter.
Not someone who is just going to prescribe a random drug with little to no context.
Unless you're not actually looking to help her and want a bandaid.
Her pediatrician should be able to do a same day or relatively soon MH appointment they might be able to do a telehealth

I have a teen who started low-dose zoloft at 17 for anxiety and it was life-changing for the better.
She had been paralyzed for a year+ with increasing significant anxiety, mood swings, occasional rage, etc and it literally pretty much all went away within 2 months of starting. We regret not starting it earlier. We started therapy pretty quickly but it took us awhile to come around to starting medication.

Don’t go to the ER, that is a terrible idea.
Agree, start with the pediatrician.
I have been on an SSRI for about 20 years, and my child started on a SSRI around age 12. Truly game-changing/life-changing. These are some of the most widely prescribed drugs available and are absolutely safe.
And the people here telling you that prescription drugs are terrible are the people who don’t need them - they have no idea what they’re talking about.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean SSRIs or benzos? Very different.

This. There are no good “just anxiety” drugs. Benzos are habit forming and not intended for long term use. SSRI’s treat depression. Also not ideal.

It stinks. There is no magic “just make me slightly less anxious” pill.

I take a low dose of Zoloft (sertraline) and it does address my anxiety. I don’t have depression and never did. As close to a magic pill as I could ask for

Anonymous wrote:Are there any teenagers in 2025 who do not have Anxiety?

Yes. I have one with and one without. The one with has been high strung since birth.

Are there any teenagers in 2025 who do not have Anxiety?

Anonymous wrote:Go to the ER. Go wherever there’s likely to be a child psychiatrist on call. I’m pretty sure Childrens Hospital has one — if you’re in the DC area.

As someone who’s BDTD with much more serious issues than I care to type out with a child in a mental heath crisis more than once, we were always sent home with nothing after their eval and a very angry kid, who still talks at 18 about how traumatizing those years were. We tried our best.

No great solutions except to start with your doctor to determine the root cause and call the school counselor to give an fyi on the school refusal and you are trying to get a Dr appt. There is no quick med to fix this.