I deal with Anxiety and Depression and now my 17 year old son is too

[Dave_Lister]

Like the title says, my son is dealing with anxiety/depression.

It all came to a head at Christmas when he and girlfriend broke up, and he gave suicide note to his friends.

We have since gotten him weekly counseling, and he is on 10mg of Prozac.

He is an elite level athlete and has a scholarship offer to a very good school, but he is struggling with his on the field performance, and his grades have dropped. He is questioning if he even wants to continue to play his sport, and now I am worried about his scholarship.

All I care about is that he is happy, and healthy, but this is starting to really weigh on me now.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Fishmanpa]

Hi Dave,

I went through this with my daughter. She came to me at 18 and told me what was going on. Her Mom (my ex) suffers(ed) from depression and hoarding.

I, along with her mother, made sure she got help. With therapy and meds, she began to recover and move forward. She had a really tough year a few years ago, took off from school and worked hard to get herself together. She graduated college in December and just started her first job in her field (teacher - early childhood).

She still has her moments of relapse but she has tools to fight it and is a pretty good dragon slayer. Being there and making sure your son gets help is vital! Being there if they need an ear or just a hug. Also, understanding. At times there are no comforting words. The irrationality you see in much the same as here but because it's your child, it emotionally hurts.

With professional help and family/emotional support, he will get through this.

Positive thoughts

[Dave_Lister]

Thanks Pa. it's really tough because he has such a great opportunity but I guess if he cannot cope then there's not much we can do except be there for him and support him and get the proper help for him.