Questions About Daughter and Her Behavior

[ArkGal]

Hello...I have a 23 year old daughter who has struggled for several years with depression and anxiety. She has tried several therapists, is currently under the care of a psychiatrist and is taking Lexapro and Wellbutrin. She has times when all seems pretty well, then she'll sink, again, or become very irritable. She has a history of weed usage and cutting herself. She isn't currently employed and stays up too late, then sleeps in until about 5 PM every day. Nothing seems to really be changing or improving. She lives at home with my husband and me. Her behavior causes a lot of stress. She doesn't seem to be motivated to exercise, meditate, work...or anything else, for that matter. She isolates in her room most of the day. Only eats one meal a day and snacks late at night. She doesn't feel good about herself...often making comments that she's ugly. My husband and I do whatever we can to build her up and support her. She has been arrested twice for shoplifting and once for weed possession. Last night, she mentioned to me that she wonders if she has BPD. Where do we go from here?

Our objective is to better understand the struggles our child faces and to learn the skills to improve our relationship and provide a supportive environment and also improve on our own emotional responses, attitudes and effectiveness as a family leaders

[Huat]

Hello ArkGal

Welcome... ...glad that you found us.

I am so sorry you are having to live through this with your daughter.  It is good to read that she is currently under the care of a psychiatrist.  Have you, as her parents, ever had the opportunity to get counselling for yourselves to work on ways to better deal with her behaviours?  Does her psychiatrist include you in any way as he treats her?

You write that she mentioned to you that she is wondering if she has BPD.  Did she give any indication what brought her to thinking of that as being her problem?

For sure there won't be any immediate answers for all to be turned around but this can be a starting point for you.  As you participate in/on this forum, also work your way through the website...read/learn and work on applying some of the strategies.  I so hope you are able to get some feed back from her psychiatrist.

Huat