I joined Scholars mainly to learn how to coach my 17 year old. She struggles with clinical Anxiety and occasional Depression, she takes an SSRI which helps a lot, she has been homeschooled since she was 8 due to this Anxiety.
Today we had a homeschool meetup that we had planned. None of her friends came. I tried to make light of it, that it was rainy, that something must have come up, but I know she left feeling that there is something wrong with her, that she isn’t worth hanging out with, that her friends must not like her much (which I know isn’t true). She is now locked in her room. I’m sure in a few hours I will be sitting in there with her trying to talk her through all her thoughts and trying to help her find other thoughts that don’t make her feel so bad. I’ve tried to teach her the Model, but she is so stuck that she can’t think of alternative thoughts, or she just doesn’t think she can believe them at all, as the automatic thoughts are so practiced and ingrained when things go wrong.
I’ve tried bringing up the Model when she’s feeling good and thinking good, but just thinking about her past thoughts and trying to figure them out spirals her down again into depression.
Up to this point I’ve been coping by using distraction, trying to just get her mind off those thoughts, but it’s coming to the point where she needs to know how to deal with them, not just brush them under the rug.
Do you have any guidance?