Son - mentally ill, sleep deprived or on drugs?

[ShatteredRose]

Been having lots of problems with my 16 year old son. He hasn't done anything since leaving school and has been out every night smoking dope with his mates. I don't give him money anymore so I don't know where he's getting money from. He disappears for two days at a time lately saying he's staying at his mates.

This morning he got in at 4am (after been "at his mates" for two days.) I found him sat on the dining room floor in pitch black darkness staring out of the window. He said there were 3 men in "gigalo suits" hiding in the bushes watching him with cameras. He insisted on showing me where they were and couldn't understand why I couldn't see them. I've made him go to bed. I'm at a loss of what to do. Is he mentally ill or taking something other than weed? What can I do when I can't physically stop him leaving the house??

Please do not assume this is drug induced psychosis. People are most likely to develop a first age of psychosis between the ages of 14 and 25. Is there a local early intervention in psychosis team you can ring? I would also ring your GP surgery and insist on a home visit.....

Please do not assume this is drug induced psychosis. People are most likely to develop a first age of psychosis between the ages of 14 and 25. Is there a local early intervention in psychosis team you can ring? I would also ring your GP surgery and insist on a home visit..

This

2 years basic training? Erm... it isnt two years.

Please look into it a lot more closely if this is something you are going to promote to him. Also, in the army he will have to be extremely physically and mentally fit to survive basic training and he will be subject to random drug testing which they do very regularly.

It really doesnt sound like you have thought it through as a solution.

Btw - my dh was in the forces for 15 years...

In her opening post the op mentions her son has been smoking weed every night with friends. In my friends case, his psychosis was triggered by drugs plus lack of sleep with underlying increased risk of psychosis. Clearly not every teenager who smokes weed daily will display symptoms of psychosis, but for some it can be a trigger.

Anyway op has updated that she’s in contact with camhs so that’s good. I agree that speculating on what drug is not really useful. I also think his age plus lack of routine plus weight loss plus daily cannabis use points to something other than a one off hallucination.

but the op and her ds need to have some dreams for the future. it might not be the army but it needs to be something

we dont know how long and how many drugs he has been taking.

Hope you can try The Early Intervention Team

The assumption on this thread that whatever is wrong with him must he drug induced is very worrying. Psychosis can be drug induced. But it is more often not a result of drug use, and first experience of it is often at around age op's son is.

In any case, even if his symptoms are drug induced, he still needs and deserves help, not some half baked 'send him to the army' approach.

I didnt say they shouldnt have dreams...

But, i know army life extremely well. It is not the place for someone with mental and physical health problems. If he is physically unfit, he nt tget in.. if he is mentally unfit, he wont get in, ifhe is on drugs he wont get in.

Doesnt really sound like a solution to me.

Op, the army can do wonders for peoples sense of worth, belonging and esteem. But your ds has some obstacles he needs to think about and tackle right now- any suggestion of the forces sounds like it is months and months down the line, if not a year or so.

Really concerned that you’re even thinking about sending such a vulnerable child to the army. He needs to be at home with your love and care. He is 16, he’s still your responsibility, however difficult he might be.

OP how are things?

He needs professional help! Despite what people say You can smell weed on someone and even mamba/spice! I worked in an environment where many clients misused substances and you could smell those things! Mamba can make people paranoid and say things that may think psychosis. But he also may have mental health issues so he needs to seek help to determine what is happening!

Sorry missed the update!

There is a research chemical (ex legal high) called alpha PvP that is renown for making people delusional paranoid and like they are being persued.

Hope things are better now, OP.

What a horrid, tricky situation. It's possible that he's showing the first signs of schizophrenia which is a bit of a jump, I know, but possible. His age is right. It's equally possible he's been doing something a bit harder (perhaps even unwittingly) with his mates. Either way he needs to be seen by a professional to be assessed properly.

x junkie here, sounds like he's on the harder stuff. I stopped smoking weed and went on to coke as no smell and quicker high. I would do what my parents did and if he wants to continue living at home he needs weekly urine tests (buy them off the internet) that or he is mentally ill and the drugs are aggravating it.

I'm afraid any mention of possible psychosis/mental health issues in his records will mean that he wouldn't pass the medical for any of the armed forces. They have to be very select due to the nature of the work and the limited medical support in some locations.
Dreams are great but I'm afraid this one won't be happening.

It's impossible to say from your description whether it was drugs or psychosis

When I was a mental health nurse I lost count of the number of times I was summoned to A&E because they had a young person with "psychosis" and when I got down there it turned out they were off their head on amphetamines/cocaine/legal highs/skunk/or even just a shit load of alcohol. Some of the legal highs you can get now are very powerful and can mimic the symptoms of psychosis very closely.

Psychosis is a possibility, but there is no clear evidence for this based on the information provided and it's certainly not a given as some posters have suggested.
It's good that you've contacted MH services, even if his behaviour is solely down to drugs, he clearly needs support to address his drug use and they will be able to signpost you to the right agencies.

Agree with previous posters that the army is the absolute last thing your son needs right now.

He could be dealing drugs too to get money. You can hallucinate with weed but you’d have to be really stoned.
Excessive use of weed can lead to mental illness so could be all 3.
If he’s only 16 I assume he’d be in year 12 so what’s he actually doing? I thought you had to be in education, work or apprenticeship at that age? Hope you can get help for him.