Ds(18) has recently been diagnosed with moderate to severe depression which is complicated by his ASD.
He’s not been in school since the first week of the autumn term and it’s obvious now that A-levels aren’t happening. He’s started on medication (fluoxetine) which has helped to a certain extent so he’s now getting up most days (not all) but is still far from functioning in a ‘normal’ way. He’s not seen anyone apart from his immediate family for months. I can sometimes get him to come out for a dog walk but not always and if I’m at work he just lies in bed and stares at the wall. With any hint of pressure he just collapses (curls up into a ball and/or cries) - and pressure includes things like trying to get him to come out for pizza. He was seeing a lovely therapist at CAMHS but due to long waiting lists he only started seeing him a month before he turned 18 and the week of his birthday all CAMHS input stopped. He’s been referred to a specialist ASD psychiatric clinic but there’s a 9 month waiting list and we’ve been told he needs to refer himself to the local Talking Therapies service but Ds doesn’t want to see anyone else - he can’t see the point.
He’s retreated into the safety of home and his computer and the longer this goes on the harder it will be for him to have any sort of life.
How do we get him to engage? His discharge letter from CAMHS talks about his emotional flatness (lack of affect) and it’s almost like he’s sleepwalking through life at the moment