Janet, the first time was in May, four years ago. It's been quite a while. They had gotten married on (I think) April 21st and exactly three weeks later she took off with the man she had been fooling around with even before they got married. And as many times as I've asked myself "Why?" she ever went to so much trouble to convince him how much she wanted to be married, and actually went through with the wedding, the best that I could come up with is that he had a steady paycheck that she could get her hands on! That was one HUGE problem and he just couldn't handle it. He found out she was cheating on him a few days after the wedding. And for the next three weeks he was a sleep-deprived basketcase, and then he did what he did. That time he REALLY meant it! He was alone at home, he had written a note, he took all those pills and he was just sitting there waiting to die ... when a friend stopped by and found him!
This time was different though. He works nights now so it's easy for him to not get enough sleep ... sometimes he doesn't sleep at all before going back to work 6:00 pm to 6:00 a.m. This time it seems like it was a lot of little things put together. He had an argument with his roommate (which they resolved), and he had lost some money. The cut he made in his wrist was very shallow, just the skin (like he was just 'toying' with the idea), and when he couldn't stop the bleeding he immediately called a friend to come over - the friend did first aid and called an ambulance. Still, that's not the way healthy people deal with stress! And another stressor he has is that he has become the official father figure and main caregiver of his (female) roommates seven year old son! It really isn't fair but he's accepted the responsibility. The little boy's an undisciplined, spoiled rotten, super-demanding difficult child who is supposed to be on medications but isn't! My son's the first one who has ever imposed any discipline on this child at all and hasn't given in to his every whim and tantrum ... and the little boy idolizes him for it! Bio dad is a real skunk, has to have supervised visitation but only sees him once a month or less. The boy made my son a card for Fathers Day and insists on him going to the father/son events at his school. Of course, just contending with this child is enough to stress anybody out. If there's anything else besides those things going on, he hasn't shared it with me. I just hope this therapist can get it out of him. His next appointment. is August 6th.
