My son's girlfriend has anxiety disorder with OCD

I really need some advice. My son has had a long distance relationship with a girl for almost 3 years. They get together whenever possible. I have know that she has had insecurity and trust issues, but always chalked it up to being a teenage girl. I raised two daughters and knew that this was pretty normal. Recently she was diagnosed with OCD and anxiety disorder. Things have gotten pretty bad in the last week. My main concern right now is my son is graduating from High School in a week and is planning to move to her town this summer and go to college in the fall. She is a year younger. We do care for this girl very much, but I'm not sure my son is mature enough to handle this, especially since we are going to be 1000 miles away. She does put him under a great deal of stress because of her trust issues. In the past year he has pretty much given up all his friends and only goes to school and work. Recently he has even been withdrawing from family functions in order to be on the phone with her. We just don't know what to do. She was only diagnosed a week ago and put on prozac. She will go to counseling too. We do have a decent repor with her mom and dad. My first instinct is to try really hard to keep him from going. I don't think I can win this tho'. HELP!! Can we expect her to improve soon. She has really gotten worse the past 2-3 weeks.

Thanks for your help. We are planning to talk with her parents, and see if they feel his being right there will be a good or bad thing for her recovery. We do have a close relationship with our son, but young love seems to win out. I have been researching like crazy, and am learning alot more about it. My family has dealt with depression, so I do understand that its not her fault and she needs help. Thanks again

That's a sticky situation. On one hand, he's an adult now. On the other, you have a lot invested in him.

It depends on how she responds to treatment, I guess. If she does well she can lead a somewhat normal life and they can have a good relationship. But, yeah, I guess it could go wrong. I've dated my share of these types of girls when I was his age.

From what I know about SSRI treatment (which isn't much....I'm no doctor), the meds will actually increase anxiety initially. Hopefully some people will come on here to confirm that with their first-hand experience. It may explain why she's actually gotten worse lately. Hopefully she'll level off soon and then get better.

Point her and her parents to sites like this one. People DO get better. I never thought I would but I did, and if I did she can too.

I have a 16 year old that is dating a girl that is very "needy". Both parents smoke in the house like chimneys seemingly w/out concern for their daughter. And the father drinks.
In my son's situation, I'm very concerned about what seems to be a co-dependency developing. Meeting her needs gives him significance. She leans heavily on him - and he likes it. If he starts to draw away, she panics - which just reinforces in his mind how "important" his mission is to her.
There's a time for pouring one's life into another (marriage), but not at 16. In your son's case, he's almost out of the nest - and like it or not, he's going to be making his own decisions very soon. But if he respects you at all - what you say will sink in - and at some point when he's out there all alone - he'll remember your faithfulness - and that's when you need to be ready to offer him counsel. Hang in there mom... : )