My 12yo DS has always had a slight tendency to be morose at times but I'm getting really worried. He's spent the last two weekends crying a LOT and mostly holed up in his room, and is unable to give me a reason why he feels sad. He's not been out of the house since coming home from school on Friday, and he's normally really sporty.
It sounds harsh, but I know him so well it almost feels to me as though he's 'trying out' the feeling of depression. I'm not suggesting he's being deliberately manipulative at all and I have no doubt that he's feeling awful, but ... I don't know. He's only like this on non-school days – I'm sure he'll be fine for school tomorrow. He instantly says 'No' or 'I don't know' to every question or suggestion when I'm trying to be helpful, and when I've gone to sit with him for a bit and then leave the room, his crying starts to get much louder. When a couple of times I've been outside his room having a conversation with DH or one of his siblings, the volume of his crying inside gets louder. It has got louder when he hears me and one of his siblings having fun –almost as if I shouldn't be laughing when he is so miserable (and it doesn't feel 100% right to me either –but I'm trying not to bring myself down too). People have visited the house and the crying stops until they leave, when it restarts. It just doesn't quite sound totally real. I feel horrible for thinking this and of course I'm not giving him any suggestion I am. It's still something serious to ruin all these days for him and I'm desperate to know how to help.
He is being incredibly clingy to me and sometimes won't enter/leav a room unless I go with him ... he asked me to follow him round the house with him tonight while he did all the pre-bedtime preparation stuff ...
Has anyone else encountered this? Could hormones have a part to play (I hope)? He's not really showing any signs of puberty yet but I imagine the hormone surge starts before there's anything outward.