15 year old depressed

[mmarsride]

My 15 year old brother has confided in me that he feels depressed and severely discouraged when things go wrong for him to the point that he contemplates suicide. He also has had visual and auditory hallucinations of a monster that scared him so bad that it caused him to grab a gun and hide in the corner. He currently lives with his father (my stepfather from my mother's previous marriage) and I know that there is a lot of stress in there for him. He has had severe headaches since as long as I can remember. They even thought the headaches were due to poor vision, but later found out his vision was fine. I'm very worried about him and I want to help him in a way that his parents will not be involved. My mother decided to relocate to another state last year and his father put up a fight. She decided to move while waiting for the court decision, but it ended up ruling in his favor and the children had to stay in New York. It was a big mess and never should have turned out that way. Anyway, what is important is that he is healthy and he has expressed that he feels more comfortable with his mom in Arizona, but is afraid to say he wants to live with her because he feels guilty about disappointing his father. I suspect that his father who was a very viscious person to myself when I lived with him is manipulating my brother. My mother left him because of how poorly he was treating myself and my other brother, but she never suspected he was treating his own children with her poorly. I am really lost about what to do in such a sticky situation. Also, he began having the visual hallucination when he was sick with bronchitis and had a mild fever for three weeks. He seems to think that it stems from that, but I feel there is much more going on and that if it were the fever he wouldn't have trouble falling asleep because he is afraid or hallucinate that the monster-like thing is breathing near him. He has expressed that he feels safe if he runs outside when this happens and it usually happens when he is home alone. He also acts rather aloof after something like this happens. I really hope my brother is not suffering from schitzophrenia.

[ParamedFlorena]

Schizophrenia and all other mental ailments have tons of criterias in a manual for psychological disorders. If the diagnose doesn't fit the symptoms, it is something else. That's robably why psychologists and psychiatrists have such a long education and much training.

Where does the border go between hallucination and nightmare? Ooooh, I really don't know anymore. Things from the past can rear up while we sleep if we don't work on them while we're awake. The brain does control a whole lot on its own while we're sleeping. The more we wear out, the more does it remind us that we need to pay attention to things going on.

You have a strong story. With much going on for him, it is important that he finds someone to entrust. 15, they're vulernable and seeking their identity, they're quite strong but still it is a teenager in that body. How would it be to suggest him to seek a school counselor? At least it is a start and someone to talk to about the stress.

Florena

[mmarsride]

Thank you for your reply. I have suggested he see the school psychologist specifically and instead he began talking to his guidance councelor. I'm trying to be as unbias about this as I can, but his father is really a very manipulative sadistic person. His father is also a teacher at his school and althought the student has confidentiality I doubt that his guidance councelor has offered him that. After he was talking to his guidance councelor about coming to live in Arizona his father bought him an expensive dirt bike, but he can't ride it until he is 16 and his father doesn't let him ride it. So it just ended up being another thing that his father uses to say "no, you can't do this until I'm ready", which seems to be how it always is with his father. I'm debating calling the school psychologist and talking to him/her about the situation and asking this person to quietly schedule talks with my brother. He's under a lot of stress and he's afraid to do anything, but he won't tell me why or he will give me some excuse about making his father feel guilty, but he also wants to vent to me everyday about things. I told him he has to think about himself and not worry about his father that his father will love him no matter what his decision is. I don't know if I really believe that but it's what I told my brother so that he would feel more confident about making a change for himself. When he as a little boy he came home from his fathers house that weekend the day before we were going on vacation and he hid under the table crying. His father told him that if he went on vacation he was going to die. So I suspect that he has been dealing with a lifelong dose of this kind of manipulation and it's really coming down on him now. I'm scared and I don't know what to do the situation is so fragile.

[diana6301]

call dss and get you mothe r to come ang et him.. he needs help an for his safety if he is in this type of home  get hime help.. if his father is intervening.. get him outside help there are free counselors out there outside of school...  and 800 number that he can call to talk things through anything is a start.. but if the school is breakinghis trust go else where were he can be heard