As you know my 17 year old son has been struggling with major depressive disorder and social anxiety for approximately 4 years now. As a result he is on meds and has been in a residential care facility since March of this year. He's made some good progress, but lately things have not been going so good.
He is in the final stage of integration at present and is not coping very with this due to the anxiety it is evoking in him. Additionally, his schoolwork has taken a sharp decline as he appears to be losing interest and motivation. Last week he had a very bad week in this facility and ended up self-harming and saying he wanted to die. As a result of this he had a risk assessment done and was then sent home for "reflection". He has been home ever since after failing to attend his integration school on Thursday and Friday because he was not up to it and spending the time sleeping and recuperating.
I believe his problems with school come from the fact that he is unable to focus, is highly disorganised, is challenged by a very, very poor memory and finds it boring .... all the hallmarks of ADD to be honest ..... which correlates perfectly with his schooling history and past psychometric testing which found his attention span and working memory below average. Unfortunately this was never thoroughly investigated, but I'm now starting to think that his depression/anxiety is a comorbid condition eminating out of a primary ADD (inattentive type) condition. It only stands to reason that if everything is super hard and challenging a person would ultimately weaken and fall into the clutches of a depressed mood as a consequence. Due to his recent problems I was prompted to go back and read his primary school reports/psychometric tests. All say the same thng - inattention, poor ability to stay on task and focus, disruptive and immature behaviour and basically not conforming to rules/regulations or performing well academically. I feel that something has been missed and am at a loss to understand why his clinical care team have not considered that there may be more issues worth investigating given that they were given the full package of all reports upon admission.
As a recent example when he was at home on Thursday I proposed that he and I go to buy vegetable seedlings with the intent that he plant and nurture them This was received positively. We drove (he drove on his Ls) and he was enthusiastic and actively into it while we were there .... reading labels, picking plants, etc. We get home with our punnets full of enthusiasm and then midway through the planting process he declares he’s over it and wants out. He suddenly finds it all “boring”. This is just one example of many. The same is happening with school. He starts with enthusiasm and then all of a sudden it is deemed as boring. He is clearly not stimulated enough. I don’t know where to go with this, other than to say that this is how he operates and that this is determined by how stimulating, or non-stimulating, he finds his environment. I can't see him engaging in anything for any length of time because of this and am at a loss to know how to make anything feel interesting enough to hold his attention for a prolonged period, or how school/education is going to hold his interest to the end.
Now for the interesting part. He has always said that there are things he doesn't tell anyone. Yesterday I requested he come and sit with me and asked him to please fill me in on what is really going on for him as I feel that we are coming close to the end of his residential stay. I assured him that I was not here to judge but to try and help him. He did and presented me with something I wasn't expecting. He tells me he sees dark figures all the time. Apparently this started 2-3 years ago. They are jet black and transparent and they are not in his peripheral vision, but in his central vision in front of him. He said that when it first happened he thought he was going blind. He was also very scared and anxious, but that he has got used to them now as he realises they are not going to hurt him. He claims that when he first touched one a couple of years ago he fainted and this happened a few times, but now when he touches them he only gets pins and needles in his hand/arm. They have no discernable gender or features, but definitely are humanoid in shape. They are there most of the time - by day and night. Sometimes there is one and sometimes a few. They appear to be on the ground, but sometimes they can float. I asked him if there was one here as I was talking and he said yes on the patio about 3 metres away. He finds them annoying and distracting, but he has got used to them so they don't bother hm as much as they used to. I asked him about voices and other than hearing his name being called occasionally he denies anything else.
To be honest I really don't know what to think anymore, other than the boy is a troubled soul who is having a hard time. I don't even know what to think about this, other than question whether what he is experiencing is paranormal or psychiatric. Clearly I am going to be bringing this to his psychiatrist's attention.
Any thoughts from anyone??? Anyone ever heard of the dark figures? Naturally I'm thinking possible psychosis or even schizophrenia in it's early stages, but also thinking that it is associated with severe depression. Would love to hear some ideas.
Janna ❤️
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