<p>I have been on CC for a couple of years and have gotten excellent college advice. However, I had to change my user name as my DD still uses the site every now and then to get information.</p>
<p>I am the mom of a college sophomore. Yesterday, my younger DD, who is in HS came to me worried. She had been in older DD’s room searching for a book and found her journal on her desk. Initially thinking it was a cool book, she opened it. DD had not kept a journal before and even when I had seen it previously, I thought it was a cool book. However, she found some disturbing stuff. She felt guilty for reading her journal but was worried enough about what she saw to come to me.</p>
<p>Basically, she said that her sister had written that she was having extreme anxiety. She finds herself crying at night and cannot sleep. She also wrote that she is upset that she often pushes people away and what concerns me the most is that she mentioned having bad thoughts and she feels bad about it.</p>
<p>Although, I have noticed that she barely sleeps, I chalked it up to college schedules and social life. She has always been a little bit of a worrier and can be snappy. Otherwise, this comes as a complete surprise to me. I don’t know how to approach her without further uspetting her that someone looked in her journal. She might push me away. From what I see, DD seems very happy in college. She seems happy at home and cannot wait to get back to school for the fall semester. She is always texting or facebooking her friends from school and making plans for the upcoming year.</p>
<p>DD is a shy girl but with a friendly disposition. She graduated top of her HS class and was accepted to all the schools she applied to and is currently attending a top University. While in HS, she held a couple of leadership positions in clubs, but she had few friends. Mainly because, she did not see eye to eye with their lifestyles. There were many “preppy” kids in her school that were concerned about the latest designer bag and shoes and she could care less. She felt she did not fit in and was happy to leave that crowd behind. She still has a couple HS friends that she keeps in touch with to keep her busy when she is home. However, for the most part, she is in her room reading or chatting with her college friends. </p>
<p>She initially was apprehensive to go to a school a few states or an airplane ride away where she knew no one, but that is what she wanted. As soon as she got there, she was immediately accepted and became part of a group of friends. She even met a wonderful boy who has the same values she does. So for the most part, I felt she was happy. Her grades fell a little, mostly because she got too ambitious with her class selections, but she is still above a 3.0. She has been open with me about stuff in general. For example, she told me she has tried beer, but did not like it. She lets me see her facebook. She has approached me with questions regarding sex, etc… So, if she had anxiety, I would expect her to tell me so. I don’t understand. The symptoms point to depression. Is is possible, to appear to be content all the time and them be secretly depressed?</p>
<p>I don’t know how to approach this and even worse, we are only a week away of sending her off to school, so there is no time to go talk to a counselor. </p>
<p>Any advice would be appreciated.</p>