Hello
I’m writing this as my mum is at her wits end with how to help my brother.
He is almost 27 years old and has been unemployed for just over a year now. He dropped out of uni due to mental health and had a job for a few years. He then left his job due to stress during the pandemic which we all supported as he was struggling terribly with anxiety from it.
The plan was for him to take a few months to get himself in a better mental state and then figure out what he wanted to do next career wise. It’s now been over a year and he is still unemployed and spends everyday at home, mainly in his bedroom alone.
He has always struggled a lot with self confidence and social situations and I have noticed how much he relies on alcohol when he does have to be in social situations (cant seem to just have a few drinks and always get plastered then becomes a bit of a loud aggressive drunk).
My parents don’t want to push him too much due to his mental health but also can’t see an end to this cycle of a non life that he’s currently leading.
He has a few friends that he sees occasionally but generally seems content in his life cooped up at home (but I do wonder if he actually is as it must be depressing).
I think he needs to have some kind of therapy or counselling to get some confidence to go back into the world of work but he is so hard to talk to it seems almost impossible to suggest this. He can be hard to have a conversation with in general and even more so if it’s a topic he doesn’t want to talk about ie counselling / a job he will just grumble and go back up to his room.
Any advice would be appreciated as we worry everyday about him and how long this will go on for. I feel sorry for him and want nothing more than him to live and enjoy his life without the constant anxiety and bad self esteem that he battles with everyday.