Our 17-year-old son is causing us great anxiety.
He struggled academically at school and left at 16 with mediocre qualifications. His main passion is music (drums) for which he has a talent and he started a level II course a year ago at the local FE college and initially made reasonable progress.
After six months he met his first real girlfriend. They have become virtually obsessed with each other. They see each other every day spending as much time as possible together. His college work suffered and he abandoned the course last April. He has become withdrawn from us and his other friends, still maintaining his relationship with his girlfriend.
We sought medical help and he was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and prescribed Atomoxetine. This explains some of the complaints we have had from his teachers regarding a lack of attention.
A few weeks later, his girlfriend went on holiday with her parents and so we took him on holiday at the same time to distract him. Whilst away he became very anxious, demanding to be took to America where his girlfriend was on holiday. He threatened to self-harm.
We abandoned our holiday and saw his consultant who prescribed Ritalin in addition to the Atomoxetine. This appears to have helped his occasional impulsive behaviour.
The plan was that he would restart is music course in September, however when the day arrived he said he couldn't. He won't entertain looking at getting a job or following another course. He spends the day in his bedroom waiting until his girlfriend finishes school so that they can meet up.
We are trying to be supportive but inevitably our patience cracks.
Could anybody give us any advice?
Thanks
David