Being a parent is hard, especially when your child is acting up. A lot of people can say what they think, but no one really knows how hard it is until they’ve been through it. Someone who reads our blog asked us for help with the problems her son is having. The reason the doctor had to cancel their therapy sessions was because of Jamie’s bad behavior, which was very upsetting.

My son, who is seven years old, has always been hard to deal with. I’m so tired of the constant temper tantrums, hitting, and screaming over small things. He finally went to see Dr. Samuel, a child psychologist, four months ago, after we had tried everything else. At first, the sessions seemed fine, but Jamie’s behavior didn’t change much.

Then, two days ago, the doctor emailed me saying he wasn’t going to keep treating Jamie, but he didn’t explain why. He just told me it was “best for everyone” when I called.

The next day, Jamie had another meltdown at school and yelled at a teacher. The counselor suggested that he go to more intense therapy. Concerned, Jamie’s parent called Ms. Anderson, his preschool teacher, who said that Jamie used to talk about a made-up friend named Claire. That night, Jamie’s parent found a crayon drawing under his bed. It showed two people, one named Jamie and the other “Claire,” with Claire’s face drawn in red.

I didn’t understand, so I called Dr. Samuel again. He finally told me that my son had a freak out during their last session and yelled at “Claire,” saying that she was mad at me. Dr. Samuel told us that this wasn’t normal behavior from an imaginary friend and strongly suggested that we see a child psychiatrist right away because he didn’t think he could handle the situation.

The parent is scared because they don’t know if this is for real or just a phase. They are lost and want to know what to do before their appointment with the psychiatrist. They are asking people who have been through the same thing for help.

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