My 15 year old daughter was diagnosed with SM at age 3. She has made much progress over the years with behavior modification. She now will speak when asked a question and will sometimes even ask the question. She has even given speeches at school. The problem is at present she has no friends. She had lots in elementary school but has found making friends in high school very difficult. She is not depressed and seems pretty content with things the way they are, but I’m concerned about her future. She has never tried medication.

Answer

Social withdrawal and isolation are an unfortunate side effect of untreated SM and social anxiety. Your daughter is a teen now. What does she say about her ‘lack of friends?’ You mention she is very content. If your daughter is unwilling to help herself there is little, if anything, that you can do to help her make friends. She needs to want to help herself.

If she wants help, I suggest you seek out a specialist who can help her with social anxiety. It sounds as if you have sought out help in the past. My advice would be to consider medication. Medication, such as Paxil, and other SSRI’s are excellent and help tremendously with social anxiety. However, be sure to use medication with a behavioral plan as well.

Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum