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Caring for a depressed teenager

Depression & Anxiety | Last Active: Mar 8, 2019 | Replies (33)

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@fattail

I have almost the exact situation, even my son's age. I'd like to share my (limited) success experiences and also asking for help from others.

1. He's been in therapy and medication since the onset in late 2016. After trying numerous meds and dosages, it helped some. But then he stalled. Then I found out about ketamine infusion, a clinic called NY Ketamine Infusion in downtown Manhattan, last year. Please research and familiarize yourself. It made some immediate and unmistakable improvements. It's the only thing that's worked! The first treatment was 6 sessions over two weeks, followed with one booster infusion two months after. BTW, I highly recommend the clinic without reservation.

2. I've been doing some reading on psychedelics, which have attracted a surge of research interest in recent years. But he seems overly cautious and concerned about trying it. I encouraged him to read up on his own. But he seems always focused on the negative -- partly as his predisposition and partly, I guess, due to his ongoing anxiety. I highly recommend everyone with similar challenges to read up on this fascinating and promising topic.

3. The effects and experiences with psychedelics, I've come to appreciate, heavily depends on the mindset beforehand (as well as the setting during the process). So he has to want to try it before it can work. You don't just pop in something like the usual meds. This is where I'm stuck. Any advice on how to persuade him would be much appreciated.

4. His currently state, I think, is mostly not depression but rather lingering anxiety. And I suspect a big part is the habit formed over the last 2.5 years -- not going to school even when he does manage to get up, procrastinating, spending too much time playing games and chatting, not leaving the house, not doing any physical activity. Am I wrong? Any differing perspectives would be much appreciated.

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Replies to "I have almost the exact situation, even my son's age. I'd like to share my (limited)..."

Thank you !
I love to hear all the different therapies and treatments that others have tried or are researching. Your #4 sounds familiar. I struggle with knowing if it is depression or anxiety. I know it is a bit of both, but which one is worse? That is my question every day. My son's high anxiety triggers his depression. He gets angry with himself when he can't do something or when he perceives that he is not "good" at something. This leads him to isolate and the depression will increase. When he originally began his adjunct mediation this summer, there was a definite mood change. He was motivated, happy and doing what I would expect a normal teenager to do. This is how I know that he is in there somewhere. I still feel like we need to find that right medication or combination. Until then, I encourage him to get outside, shovel (we had 42 inches of snow this February), talk to his friends, drive his brother to soccer, pick his sister up from school etc. He tells me he is embarrassed to go anywhere (in public). There is the anxiety talking and we need to work on that. His psychiatrist is very proactive. If a medication doesn't work then we look at a different treatment. We will be seeing him this week.
Please keep me posted on any information you have found in your research or other treatments that have been beneficial for you. Hang in there and know that you are not alone.