Jennifer June 2nd, 2011
Hi, I’ve been trying to diagnose him myself for a while. He refuses to get any help, and legally he doesn’t have to either (he’s 20). So it’s a bit of a losing battle. He got diagnosed with ODD when he was a lot younger, although he still has all the traits – (does this lead into adulthood too?)
Depression
- Pessimistic about everything – He thinks everyone and everything were destined to fail.
- No interests at all, he just goes to college, eats and sleeps. No friends, no activities.
- He doesn’t care about anyone or anything. He’s told me that he doesn’t care if he dies or not. He doesn’t seem to understand anyone’s feelings.
- His diet has never changed, but he has the same 2 meals EVERY meal; every day.
Borderline PD (If anything i think this is the one he has)
- violent mood swings – he’ll get outraged/frustrated over little things which people don’t normally care about. Normally he will just completely blank you but he has been known to get violent, even to me and my mother.
- relationship changes – He’ll go from being obsessed with someone, constantly praising them, trying to help them. Then sometimes, even on the same day he’ll apparently hate you and want nothing to do with you. Ill give an example:
He has one friend at college, it’s clear he’s got a "crush" on him, although he doesn’t admit to being gay. Some days he’ll tell you how amazing he is, and how much fun they had that day. Then the very next day he’ll be like "Yeah i hate him, hes so annoying". If you ask him why, he’ll give you some reason like "He didn’t acknowledge me when i spoke to him".
- Suicidal/Self harm – He’s only ever threatened to kill himself once, he did it aggressively more than anything. I found a suicide note on his computer though. He said on the letter the reason was because he felt "alone, alien and empty". He self harms as well, he’s got scars up his arms and around his hands.
Paranoia
-When he was younger he used to hallucinate and hear voices.
- He thinks people are always watching him, whether it be in town or in his own room. He says he thinks there are cameras in the house.
- He thinks his mum and dad are trying to kill him. He thinks they try and put poison in his food.
- He doesn’t trust anyone, extremely skeptical of people’s motives. He says "getting help" is going to make him take loads off drugs and become a zombie.
- He’s obsessed with conspiracies, he thinks the government are trying to kill/control him.
Other symptoms
- ODD Characteristics – He’s never wrong, annoys people on purpose, in some ways very sadistic. He laughed about the japan disaster and said " O well, glad i’m not there then; sucks for them".
- Drinking problem, although most of the time he has no access to alcohol. For the short time which he lived on his own, he’d drink >10 cans of cider a day easily. He used to drink before going to college as well.
- obsessive liar – He lies all the time, he believes them too (i think).
What do you think? He’s at college now, but he has been for 4 years. He’s incredibly intelligent but keeps failing the courses. He has no goals in life, and just says "we’ll see what happens". He also has no friends, except the one i mentioned earlier – but he and him always fall out. He only speaks to me, everyone else he doesn’t care about.
I know he needs serious help, but i don’t know what to do. I heard that you can get people sectioned? He said he will definitely kill himself if it comes to that, or he’ll flee the country.