Teenage Depression

[TT14]

Please help!! I have a teenage family member who has been suffering from depression for at least the last 5 years, although it has gotten worse in the last year. He refuses to go to school, go out with mates, he's come off all social media, he stays up late or if not gets up early then is in bed by supper time. He cries at the least little thing, can't speak about what's happening or his feelings etc. He's been to see his GP countless times and has been for Counselling twice. He was last at his GP last week and she was hopeless, he was totally honest with her and all she suggested was counselling. He won't entertain the idea of counselling any more seeing as he has been twice and it didn't help. He's been reviewed at Cornhill and they dismissed him. The whole family are struggling with what to do for the best for him next! Anyone had any experience of this and how do we get the help for him that he so evidently needs??

I have been there.

I would suggest you spend your rainy day savings on private counselling. You need far more sessions than the NHS will offer. Twice a week at first, then once a week for a year, perhaps more.

Once you've found your counsellor, you'll need to spend some more of those savings on a suitable series of bribes to get your DC to go.

Good luck.

Hi TT14. So sorry you're going through this. Has he actually seen a psychiatrist for a proper diagnosis? Has he been referred to CAMHS? Does the family have medical insurance?

Any kind of help is so hard to access right now and without any kind of formal diagnosis it can be even harder. If you feel he is a threat to himself, if he's self harming or threatening to self harm then I would take him to A&E and you should see the on-call psychiatrist. Clearly, he will have to agree to this but it might kick start things for him. They won't sort this overnight but you should get a CAMHS referral at least.

If you have insurance I would go through them and get a proper psychiatric evaluation and then they will recommend either medication, some form of therapy, or both, depending on their diagnosis.

Best of luck and hugs to you and your family.

@TT14 I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend this book, here reviewed by a therapist on YouTube, she seems to specialise in helping teenage girls, but obviously the book would be great for teenage boys too!