6 year old boy's bad & violent thoughts

[jordansav]

Dear Doctor,

Tonight I had the biggest shock of my life.  My 6 year old son all of a sudden told me that he keeps having bad thoughts and told me that he wants to kill his mummy and his 2 year old brother!!!  Then he went on telling me that these bad thoughts also make him think that he wants to kill me as well with a shotgun!!!  It was obvious that my poor baby was sufferring telling me all these, because he had tears in his eyes and he was shivering.

I immediatelly cuddled him gave him lots of kisses and told him not to worry and that these silly thoughts will go away and it's only because he watches too many cartoons and violent films.  I also told him that he doesn't want to kill any of us and that he loves us very much and we love him as well.

However it did not make him feel any better, instead he carried on repeating the same things saying that he wants to kill other people as well using a real sword, a real shotgun and a real gun.  He kept repeating the same words for a long time.  I panicked and I took him upstairs where we keep Jesus' icon, I gave it to him to kiss (we are Greek Orthodox) and told him that Jesus will make all the bad thoughts go away and placed the icon next to his pillow.  However he carried on same the same things displaying bequliar and repeatitive behaviour.  He only calmed down a bit when we tried the distruction mehtod putting on the telly his favourite cartton (Scooby Doo).

Please help.

I will be looking forward to your reply.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The violence to which he is exposed is a problem. There is no need to shout, no need to hit, no need to argue in his presence and no need to have him watch those movies. You are unwittingly doing damage to him. All you need to do is listen to him. Your reply is not needed. But be sure to arrange an evaluation because this behavior is not within the norm.

[JimH68]

I experienced this same scenario with my child at about the same age.  Our diagnosis was "bad thought OCD" (Morbid OCD.) Two things to consider even if it's just for the sake of ruling them out.  Our child has a food allergy (which we did not know about at the time.)  Peanuts/peanut butter would set these thoughts in motion.  It's actually a "brain allergy."  Other foods could be an allergin but for our child it was peanuts.  We also found out that our child has PANDAS.  After a STREP infection the bad thoughts returned for a few weeks (even after the STREP infection was eliminated by antibiotics.) It is believed that the STREP antibodies mistake the basal ganglia part of the brain for STREP and attack it, causing the intrusive thoughts.  Many Doctors however don't believe in PANDAS.  The antibodies will remain for several weeks, even after the STREP infection is gone.  I know what you mean about the thoughts being horrific, too.  I am not a doctor and am not trying to sell you anything, just something to think about I guess.  Please have him evaluated by a medical doctor and child psychologist as soon as possible.  One more suggestion: I am not trying to lecture here but... try to limit the arguing and shouting in front of him, find an alternative for the "smacking" and don't let him watch the violent films.  Best of luck and please post any positive results you may have on this difficult journey.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

You should arrange an evaluation for him, because he might be displaying a type of anxiety disorder that is characterized by intrusive, violent thoughts/obsessions. This is a particular variety of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

[JimH68]

You said he was a little sick recently... just to be safe, I would take him to a pediatrician for a STREP test and be sure to also get the TITER count test.  This test will tell you within a few days the level of STREP antibodies in your child's system (if there are any.)  A child does not have to have an active STREP infection to suffer from this, it's actually the STREP antibodies that cause the reaction.  Many doctors do not believe PANDAS is real so if you do bring it up with his pediatrician, be ready for summary dismissal of the idea. (PS- I cut and pasted part of this response just to make sure my thoughts flowed correctly.)  Good luck.

[jordansav]

Dear Jim & Kevin,

Thank you both for your advice and the interest you have showed in our problem.  My wife had a meeting with the headmistress of the junior school today who has known our son since he was 2 (nursery, prereception, reception and now Y1).  She told us that she did notice a change in his behaviour at school since last year, that our regular fighting is definetely a negative factor and that he must be evaluated immediately from a child pshychologist now that it's all out in the open.

In the meanwhile we have stopped the fighting completely with my wife, I treat him with lots of love and affection, definetely no shouting or hitting.  However he looks quite depressed with no apetite, neither for food nor for playing.  I decided to take him tonight to his 1st cousins (10 & 5) who he loves playing with very much in order to play Nintendo Wii which is his favourite toy at the moment.  Tomorrow he is going back to the football academy he loves after 2 weeks of not going because of bad weather and being a little bit sick.

We are taking this very seriously and we will both do the best we can for the good of our beloved son.

If you guys have any more advice or further comments please give them to us.

Thank you very much both for your time.

[jordansav]

Dear Kevin,

Many thanks for your prompt response.  I really appreciate it.

Please also note that my son does watch a lot of cartoons, he does watch violent films with me at night, he does like to play with toy guns and swords, I have 2 shotguns and a machine-gun in the house (I am a National Guard Reserve and a hunter), we argue and shout with my wife on a daily basis, I do shout at him and smack him on a daily basis 'cause he picks on his baby brother a lot and he is very hyperactive.  However saying all these he is a very socialble kid, one of the favourites in his class (he is displying leadership characteristics with other kids), he loves football (he plays for a local team) and he is generally a confident, playful and a smiley little boy.  He does have a lot of bad nerves though 'cause of the situation in the house and he does display violent behaviour with me and his baby brother.

Can you please advice us on what we are meant to say to him 'cause he keeps talking about the bad thougths today as well.  At the moment we are giving him lots of love and attention, but my wife thinks that's maybe what he is looking for and maybe we should play it down a little bit instead and casually say to him that these thoughts will go away.

Please help us!!