Two posts in two days... try not to faint

[gestaltrose]

Anyway, I'm posting on behalf of a friend of mine. I know my flist has resources and experiences that I don't. This is from a friend of my on facebook.

I am in desperate need of help

Comments

[fromyourashes]

What are the parents' involvement? I don't know what they're doing at home, what the child is capable of understanding, or enough information to really say anything that isn't generic. I'd suggest spending all free time with the child, quitting extracurricular activities and instead devoting that time to the child, and depending on the child's development, show him what happens to the families left behind when a young person commits suicide. Scour the internet for stories and articles and even blogs from family members left behind that show how devastating it can be to lose a child that way. They need to find out what the core problem is, obviously, but I just don't know more about the situation and can't be more helpful.

[gestaltrose]

I the mom is deeply involved she is just running out of options. She said her son is 16, he is very social, maybe too social. Academically he is about 5-6 grade level. Social development he is about 10-12 years old. She is going through the links that Mickey gave me and will hopefully find some help. Thank you, I appreciate your help.

[a_phoenixdragon]

I wish I had some advice...this is terrible.

[gestaltrose]

Yeah I know

[mickeym]

As fromyourashes mentions, more detail about age of child, level of functioning, etc., would help make advice less generic. But, having been down this road before, my suggestion is this

[gestaltrose]

Thank you so much, love. I gave her your links and she really appreciates them. btw she says her son is 16, he is very social, maybe too social. Academically he is about 5-6 grade level. Social development he is about 10-12 years old. if that helps

[mickeym]

Man, 16 is hard enough all on its own, even without any sort of developmental issues

[wendy]

Perhaps the local Department of Mental Health?

[gestaltrose]

I will mention it, thank you.

[jya_bd_cp_ttgb]

Talk to him. If he's truly suicidal, he'll have reasons he wants to end it all. The more detailed the reasons, the more you worry. The less detailed, the more it's probably an outside reason for the thoughts.

If he's sixteen, hormones could be screwing with the meds, doing the "depression" or even "voices in my head" dance in his cerebellum.

No one bothers to study brain chemistry as much as they should be, considering that something as simple as too much sugar can throw it for a loop de loop. Best you can do is try a complete blood panel, there's vitamin, mineral and amino acids shortages that can present as depression and other mental issues. Check his hormone levels, too much of one or not of another can make things go screwy too, and it's a damn good bet that no one's done a study of what applying xyz chemicals to Joe Smith's brain to suppress 1 2 3 this or that does on a long term basis.

Let me get off my soapbox before it gets bigger, and you do the talking and the blood panels.