Diagnosing psychiatric problem in teenage girl
Location: US, modern day (Arizona, if specifics matter)
Not sure how to research the first 2 parts, and can't really research the third and fourth parts without the diagnosis...
So. At 12, Our Heroine had what seemed like some kind of breakdown/massive panic attack. Since then, she's had frequent, bad nightmares, and she's terrified of going outside after dark. She also occasionally reacts to things that no one else can see or hear, though she generally avoids talking about/describing same.
She's been going to psychiatrists (or equivalent) regularly since that time (she's 16 now). The two relevant pshrinks she's had are a previous one who was the throw-meds-at-it-until-the-problem-goes-away type, and her current one, who is more the meds-are-a-last-resort type. She's probably had others, and hasn't been... terribly cooperative (she particularly dislikes the meds). She refuses to talk about *why* she doesn't want to go outside after dark, and usually won't talk about what she saw that night. She has also not, for the most part, been terribly cooperative with her pshrinks.
It doesn't necessarily matter if her problems aren't bad enough that a "normal" parent would take her to a pshrink; her parents are rich, and her mother is rather overprotective.
What her pshrinks don't know is that she is actually slightly psychic, and being stalked by a supernatural creature. The "breakdown" was the night she saw it brutally kill the neighbor's dog, and first sensed it (it's evil and nasty, and has killed people). She may have a bit of PTSD, but for the most part she's much saner than they think she is.
So.
1. Given what's really going on, do her reactions and all seem plausible?
2. What condition(s) might she have been diagnosed with?
3. What meds might the first doc have put her on? What treatments might the second doc have plausibly suggested? Would it be reasonable for the second doc to have suggested that she "confront the source of her fears"?
4. What kind of side effects would the first doc's meds have? Ideally, I'd like there to be something that's left her feeling "muddled", "cotton-headed", or the like.
edit: Thanks to all those who responded. If I do go with PTSD as the official diagnosis, is there likely to be any significant difference in treatment if they think it's from sexual vs nonsexual trauma?