Need help! 18 year old senior in deep Defense Mode. I saw it coming with the start of the new semester but he is now playing video games all hours of the night, rarely eating and sleeping most of the day and hasn't been to school in a few weeks. He can't get up and no amount of alarms can get him up and then he feels bad about not going, feels further behind and agrees to reset and go the next day but same story day after day. He has admitted to being depressed but is unable to pinpoint the cause. He refuses to go and see a therapist -note he had gone to wilderness therapy 2 years ago and suffers from PTSD from it and fears he will be taken away again. Our town has a mobile crisis unit that could come and do an evaluation but not sure if that will help or make the situation worse? It is impossible to talk to him if he is playing as he becomes angry, emotionally abusive and throwing things. I have been able to talk to him the day after and we try building a plan to reset but it is failing. I know it sounds easy to just take away the gaming device but it isn't that simple. I can only do it the next morning when he is calm. He gets further depressed, feels it is his life-line and is the only thing that motivates him. However, it isn't motivating him anymore-he is just escaping into a dark hole

Posted by mxasmith at 2023-03-12 19:55:48 UTC