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Caring for a depressed teenager
Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Mar 8, 2019 | Replies (33)Comment receiving replies
@helvslp, Hi there. Boy oh boy, do I feel your pain on this one. Your story sounds exactly like mine, except my child is a daughter. I had her online home schooled as well from the 10th grade onward. She would NOT go to school no matter what. Amazingly, she did get a BA degree in Advertising at a University. I have experienced everything you mentioned concerning your son. It is heartbreaking. My daughter is now 31 and just started back to work last month after having been out of the workforce for a year. She works hard all week and then hibernates in her room all weekend. She turns off her phone and ignores the world all weekend. This is worrisome to me. I am so sad for her. She is drop dead gorgeous, and has a personality and humor that doesn't quit. She should be out with friends enjoying her youth. She has never been genetically tested before; I had never even heard of that. I am so glad that this group got started; I wish it had been around back when I was dealing with all of this when she was in high school. It is really weird, my two siblings, myself, and all of my first cousins on my dad's side has a child with the depression and anxiety. It seems there is so much of it going on with the kids today. Is it purely from genetics? Is it from pesticides or fructose in our food, or is it that technology changes so rapidly that they have to be in constant flux? My husband, my daughter's stepdad, didn't understand mental illness either. He would expect her to "Snap out of it.". Or say she was spoiled and lazy. I enrolled us in the 'Family To Family' class through an organization called NAMI. It is a 12 week course, once a week, and free. Wow! What an eye opener that was. It helped my hubby to understand better as well. Just about every city and town has a NAMI chapter. It is well worth looking into. They also have a support group available for the parents as well as the kids. I had been told to be cautious of putting your child in a teen support group because many tend to self medicate and will introduce your child to drugs.
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Thank you! I will be looking into those NAMI classes, I think it is something that would help all of us. I laughed when I read the "Snap out of it" statement, as I have heard my husband say that more than once. As if some magic will occur overnight and everything will be just fine.
I have been looking for a reason for all of this, for a while now. His psychiatrist shared that the onset of puberty often changes our brain chemistry just enough that some teens have a hard time processing the change, especially those who are "smarter" than average. My son's appearance completely changed within 6 months during puberty and he also had an increase in acne. All of this seemed to just be a "shock" to his system and confidence. It was tough to watch and for an already shy and anxious kid, it was just too much.
My son's diet is not good and as his depression increases, so does his unhealthy eating. It is a spiral that is difficult to stop. I know that gut health has so much to do with our cognition and mental health, so I want to get his diet to a point where I know he is getting what he needs without all the sugar and carbs. Again, this is not an easy change for someone who doesn't always "care" about what is going on.
Basically, I want to try everything and make sure I am not missing anything. I have no idea how I even found this group online, it just appeared one day when I was searching and researching. I'm thankful to have found it. It is so nice to know that I am not alone and I want to share my experiences as well. I know what my family has been through and our experiences can be helpful for someone else.