Do we have our son hospitalised for mental health?

[Needsainity]

Our 16 year old son has withdrawn completely from life shutting himself in his room playing games and using his laptop continuously - he refused to go to school so has not completed year 11. This has been going on for 6 months - He becomes aggressive when we switch the internet off at night. He stays awake until 2/3am and sleeps until 12/1pm the next day. He has put on an excessive amount of weight and seldom interacts with the family. He breaks things and throws things in the house when we try to get him to come out of his room - he refuses to go to psychologist appointments that we make for him. We have arranged to have him admitted to hospital for mental health assessments, are we doing the right thing? We just want our boy back.

[Ngaio-RO]

Welcome to ReachOut Parents @Needsainity

I'm so sorry to hear about the difficulties your family is facing. These transformations that teenagers go through sometimes can be incredibly distressing. We never know if this is something we should ignore and wait out or whether we need to be pro active and encouraging them to make changes. Especially because teenagers will often resist no matter what option we take. Sometimes it can help to remember that these situations are usually hardest for the teenager living through it.

Which of ciourse doesn't make it less difficult for parents.

The medical assessment sounds like a good option, how open is your son to going?

There are many parents here who have been through similar situations, @just-me might be willing to share what steps are working and not working for them at the moment. And @StHubbins has offerred some great insights into young people and mental health difficulties.

If you have a moment, please jump in here and introduce yourself. We are a new community, but a growing one, and we are always very excited to hear a new perspective.

Anything you're not sure about, don't feel afraid to ask. We are a friendly bunch.