Yvonnie Bailey- Davidson

Dear Counsellor:

My daughter has been cutting her wrist on several occasions. She tends to be moody and disrespectful at times. She has threatened to kill herself and I am worried.

- Angela

Dear Angela:

When someone threatens to kill herself, she should be taken immediately to see the psychiatrist. This condition is considered an emergency. Sometimes, she may be admitted to hospital.

Suicidal behaviour is causing problems in the case of adolescents. Many adolescents are having suicidal thoughts and attempting suicide. Some are engaging in self-mutilation. These adolescents must be seen as troubled and are crying out for help. These adolescents are in emotional pain and need psychiatric help.

Some adolescents are influenced by their peers, music and societal factors. In counseling these adolescents, we need to determine whether or not the adolescent has been traumatised, victimised or abused. Many adolescents have been raped or sexually abused and don't know how to cope with the feelings that have been aroused. Some may feel ashamed, angry or guilty and start to show behavioural symptoms.

Encourage your daughter to talk with you. Know who her friends are and the places she goes. Suicidal thoughts or behaviour must be seen as an emergency and help should be sought from a psychiatrist. Your daughter is troubled and you need to take her to see a psychiatrist. The psychiatrist will teach her how to cope and deal with her emotions, frustrations and problems.

Bed-wetting

Dear Counsellor,

I am sending you this email because we have a 14-year-old son who still wets his bed. We make sure he uses the bathroom before he goes to bed, but this does not stop him from wetting the bed. We just do not know what more to do. He sleeps very soundly. Once he goes to sleep, he sleeps right through the night.

Finally, we look forward to receiving your advice.

Best regards.

- Parents

Dear Parents:

Bed-wetting is seen more commonly in children than adolescents. The majority of these children usually cease bed-wetting by the adolescent period. Bed-wetting at night usually involves the passage of urine in the bed. Your son would have become sensitive about the bed-wetting and may be having self-esteem issues. It is important to put certain measures in place to reduce and finally abolish the bed-wetting. Some adolescents usually start bed-wetting after achieving control of their micturition. We call this secondary enuresis to differentiate from primary enuresis [bed-wetting]. In primary enuresis, the adolescent has never been dry during the night. The reason for differentiating secondary from primary enuresis is that the causes are different. Secondary enuresis can be caused by stress, trauma, medical illness and sexual abuse. Primary enuresis is usually caused by problems with the control of micturition. A baby lacks control but as the child develops, he gains control of his urination.

encourage drinking

Achieving dryness will take some time. You will need to restrict fluids in the night and encourage plenty of drinking and holding his urine in the day. Holding the urine will cause the bladder to stretch to accommodate the volume. Delaying passing urine will improve the control of urination. Therefore, no drinking of fluids at night and frequent drinking in the day. He should pass urine in the bathroom before sleeping and you should wake him about two hours after falling asleep. When you wake him, let him get wide awake and pass urine in the toilet.

The process of fluid restriction at nights, bladder training and waking at nights will help in achieving control of urination. Some adolescents require the use of medication to stop the bed-wetting.

All children and adolescents who are wetting their bed at night should be seen by their doctor and examined. Sometimes, there is a physical cause for the bed-wetting.

If your son is having emotional issues about the bed-wetting, he should be taken to a counsellor. In counseling, he will deal with self-esteem, lack of control, attitude and behavioural issues.

Call Dr. Yvonnie Bailey-Davidson at: 978-8602, 791-1778 or email: yvonniebd@hotmail.com