difficult child Hallucinated

[TerryJ2]

That sounded like a good therapy session. We've had several like that, and nothing changed until difficult child really, really had to face up to what he'd done.

In order for your difficult child to develop a conscience, even at this late date, he's got to cry and feel awful.

It's not only a way to develop a conscience, but it develops coping skills. This is hard work for him, particularly if his dad has protected him for so many yrs.

I would just keep an eye on him, tell him you love him, and make sure he is safe. But do not tell him "it's all right," because it's not. You can tell him that you understand how hard he worked at the therapy session.

I hope the next few days will go smoothly for you. I hpoe that packing doesn't involve a huge explosion. We had some issues with-my difficult child this summer regarding packing, and it was only for a 1 wk. camp.

Take care.
I'm sending hugs.

 

[BestICan]

Hi, I'm really sorry to hear about this episode. I just want to put in a thought about seizure activity - have you ruled it out? My difficult child's partial complex seizures took the form of extreme fear, he described feeling like there was a monster right behind him. He did not lose consciousness and could speak and respond to questions (sort of) during the seizures. In his post-seizure state his behavior was odd - he used to sob for no reason and say mixups of words that sounded like nonsense sometimes.

I know there are very compelling reasons to attribute this episode to medications and/or mental illness but I thought it wouldn't hurt to bring it up.

 

[susiestar]

I agree that it is very likely that difficult child is both sociopathic (there does seem to be a range for that just as there is for autism, from what little I know about it) and dealing with a biologically based mental illness, such as schizophrenia. I just wonder if the phone destroying it partly because he is afraid that some monster is going to come out of the phone or suck him into the phone or is saying horrible things to him through the phone. I could see Wiz destroying that many phones if he was hallucinating those kinds of things. Or the hallucination could be telling him to destroy things or it will hurt him.

Wouldn't YOU be afraid if that was happening to you? Wouldn't you try to destroy phones as often as is humanly possible? It would be sheer terror if you were afraid of something like that. I wouldn't tell anyone because I would be afraid I would be sent to a long term facility or just locked up for good. I am not saying that is what is going on, simply that it might be something to look into so he can be helped. THAT might convince husband to tell the therapist maybe.

I like the fax idea. Or mail it to the therapist. Just to save husband the chore of remembering. Because therapist and psychiatrist have NO chance of success if they don't know.

I am sorry husband is sticking his head in the sand and trying to make an omelet and fry bacon at the same time. Just seems like a guarantee for a nasty burn.

Keep being good to yourself!

 

[WSM]

He only destroys and steals his father and sister's things. The house phone can lay around everywhere, and he won't touch it, nor my cell phone, or his three stepbrother's cellphones, or even all the extra non-working old cellphones that are hanging around the house until we figure out where to donate them.

Just his father's cellphone. And his father's gps, and his father's wallet, and his sister's DS and gameboy (and not those of the stepbrothers), and his sister's walkie talkie and her toys, and his own stuff, but for the most part his leaves our stuff alone. Except once when I let husband borrow my cellphone because difficult child had destroyed husband and difficult child apparently thought it was husband's and disappeared it.

Anything this selective is completely within difficult child's control.

Also, I don't think difficult child hallucinates often. I think it's something that only happens once or twice a year. Although it probably has happened at times we don't know about.

 

[BusynMember]

WSM, it's common to hallucinate on SSRI's like Lexapro, especially at night. I know first hand. It doesn't mean he's psychotic. To me he seems scarily logical and psychopathic. I could be wrong, but I think that's his big issue. I know husband thinks Lexapro will "fix" him, but if this happens again, I'd encourage him (I know, I know, you do) to talk to the psychiatrist about this medication possibly causing the kid to have hallucinations. I agree with you, from your description, that he seems driven by some sort of bad stuff inside of him, but he doesn't really seem like it's primarily a mental illness. People with both bipolar and schizophrenia both, when they come down from an episode, have great remorse for those they harm. They are as capable as warm love as people who are not mentally ill. That's the problem here. This kid acts like he is eerily sneaky and not concerned about anyone's well being but his own. And he doesn't seem to have a conscience. While overly mentally ill people can temporarily seem as if they don't have a conscience, they display one as soon as they are better. He is not acting like he is normally out of touch with reality.
I am sorry husband won't even tell psychiatrist about his episode. Take care of yourself.