Posted on 03/03/2018 4:48:19 AM PST by newnhdad
need advice. I have an adolescent with sever behavioral issues. Suicidal thoughts, violent behavior, bursts of emotion, anger and very drastic mood swings. Like you see in the movies about crazy people, but from a 12 year old.
we have tried all sorts of therapy but nothing seems to move the needle. The last evaluation mentioned posbile hospitalization and medications. Does anyone have experience with this?
Move to Peru, or Peten, Guaemala. Remove all digital, electronic, video games, take up farming, homeschool, a lot of books, remove all medications, watch the stars at night. Sing, put on soft music, and talk. Play table games, and tell him about your grandfather. Do this for 3 months. Avoid TV. And let him learn a new language. Having animals around help.
Seek professional help. Therapy and/or medicine can do wonders. Don’t wait!
Prayers for your family.
Get professional Medical help immediately.
L
I would try meds ahead of hospitalization, and agree with the others re: getting them unplugged and engaged.
A job can work wonders for someone like that too, if they can handle it.
Does the mom stay at home (at least when the child is home from school) or does she work?
I also echo no TV, video games, monitored internet. I’ll say the that he should get outside and play some sports - at least first individual sports, then team sports if his behavior doesn’t preclude that.
Perhaps moving to a different location will push the reset button on your whole family dynamic.
Find an interest, or outlet, ASAP! WHATEVER that may be...
If he is engaged in something he enjoys, he will be less likely to exhibit behavioral issues.
I was a troubled teen, not quite as bad as you have described. But still, close enough.
Scouts, Church activities, and video games occupied the bulk of my time from 13 to 16, until the worst was past. You may have to consider him living away from you for a time; another family member, a boarding school, etc.
Please, institutionalization and psychotropic meds should be your very last resort! Love him, and don’t give up on him! My parents were at their limits too, but now I’m a reasonably well adjusted, productive adult.
You just gotta keep him alive until he matures some.
I’ll be praying for you.
(Not of course a regular job at 12, but something with responsibility, pride and reward.
Or get him/her to Mclean Hospital in Belmont,MA (suburban Boston)...the finest psychiatric hospital in the world.
Pray,
Get qualified psychiatric help, preferably from your church.
Remove all electronic devices from his routine.
Coordinate w his school, make sure they are aware, and keep him home if possible.
(supervised!)
Ensure he is taking prescribed meds and monitor behavior closely.
Try positive distractions and activities.
Pray!
Is this your biological child? Is the child male? Did you just move and did the child have similar issues before the move?
Before the anti-med people chime in:
The meds, especially the SSRI class, help a lot of people and can save a life.
They DO increase the danger of suicide for some people in the short run, which is why their use, especially in a child, should always be managed by a competent therapist.
And agree completely about social media. There is a ton of literature, with a lot more in the pipeline, about the role of social media in causing, and especially worsening, child and adolescent depression.
If Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat, all of which DO modify brain chemistry, most significantly in females, needed FDA approval they could not get it.
I am a borderline bipolar/manic-depressive in a genetic line, with a parent, sibling and child profoundly affected.
Going off caffeine in any form, especially chocolate, has had a very helpful effect to stabilize me.
It took longer than just the few days it takes to initially titrate off caffeine.
It took about 4 months to realize the complete effect.
Other things on the list are:
* Exercise, regular
* Light, circadian rhythms
* Behavioral therapy
* Family support group
Distinguish between baseline, drug-free +/- mood movement (sine wave?), non-psychotic hypomania, and mania with psychotic features.
Study the effect of adolescent hormones on the young person, were there any signs of the condition’s latency in childhood, what parent markers were there, what was the adult prognosis?
My adult child has a hormonal condition, polycystic ovarian syndrome that profoundly affects her condition.
Overuse of caffeine at a challenging job she could have acclimated to, actually resulted in her losing a promising career, because she slipped out of normal borderline +/- moodswings, into actual hypomania, with fast talking, delusions of grandeur and, one other thing.
Heightened creativity, unique point of view, stream of consciousness, other perceptual-cognitive features of hypomania, are issues that the patient may actually like, favor, crave.
This was discovered when the inventor of Gatoraide, Dr. Robert Cade, developed schizophrenic therapeutic kidney dialysis, initially reported to have 40% treatment success.
Numbers of positively affected schizophrenics declined to continue the therapy. They liked being the way they were. Like deaf or blind people who have children, because they enjoy the company of other, similarly disabled people.
“The camel eats thorns because it likes the taste of its own blood.” - Arabic proverb
Look at the Mary Ellen Copeland: Wellness Recovery Action Plan, a kind of “living will” that’s useful all through life. One of the books targets Mania with Psychotic Features.
Hospitalization can be very expensive, depending on what insurance you have, but it has the advantage of putting the child in a safe, supervised environment. Medication might help. However, without a real diagnosis, a prescription is often just, “Let’s try this and see what happens!”
Symptoms can be the result of environmental factors, especially sleep deprivation. When my daughter was hospitalized, at 15, for depression, we found that the main problem, aside from “being a teenaged girl,” was lack of sleep due to tv/computer/phone use.
We have tried changes in life, I now work from home and my wife switched to part time to accomodate new schedule. I have seriously considered selling while themarket is hot and moving close by, in a newer community.
All our changes seemed to work for a short while but the same patterns have emerged. the new school has bee great but they’re just a school and they have about 100 students for all grades (small classes too) so there can’t be 100% focus on my child.
we have removed the personal devices but I allow some monitored interaction with class mates, old and new.
I have all but forced exercise routines, it has turned into a way to get me to be quiet versus doing any good.
We don’t want meds but I’m not sure where else to turn.
+1
Get the child on magnesium glycinate. I promise it works. Low mag makes you nuts and depressed.
Check diet and mineral deficiencies.
Heavenly Father, We praise Your Holy Name. You have special plans for this young man. . . .he was created on purpose for Your purpose. We pray for Your miraculous healing in the Name of Jesus. Guide this family in their decisions. Please give them hope, a sense of peace and comfort in everything giving You the Glory. In Jesus Name, Amen
Continuation of my comments from above: My review of Negotiating the IEP Maze (Individualize Educational Placement, a school staff meeting for the SED/Severely Emotionally Disturbed student):
My review: 3 of 5 stars / 10 people found this helpful.
This book gives a neutral overview of the IEP process and supplies you with a minimum of information necessary to participate in meetings. But it may not supply sufficient information to equip a student’s advocates with the leverage to get mandated services. The IEP process can be quite adversarial, depending on the jurisdiction, with very substantial funds at stake in providing services. Teachers & other school district personnel may be under instructions NOT to give out information that will unlock services to parents; it can take knowing how to request services using the proper jargon, citing statutory provisions such as “AB3632” and “26.5” for mental health services in California, for instance. School District personnel may evince fear when hearing these requests posed with the proper jargon, in the IEP. Consult with student advocates, such as those searchable in California under the term “Developmental Disabilities Area Board”. Professional advocates may accompany you to IEP meetings.
(We beat the School District and County Mental Health double-team, we got our daughter 2.5 years of residential placement worth $200k. When a volunteer advocate mentioned California 26.5 in an IEP, one of the school professionals blanched, lost her normal facial color, “the blood drained from her face”.)
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