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Dr. Andrew Rynne
MD
Dr. Andrew Rynne

Family Physician

Exp 50 years

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Suggest Treatment For Aggressive Behavior And Depressive Mood

My husband and I, along with our 9-year-old son, Cole, have moved three times in the last 18 months (once internationally, to Cape Town, South Africa). Cole has been in three different schools. Unfortunately, his teacher in Cape Town humiliated him in front of the class and punished him severely, including knocking him on the head. The children in Cape Town bullied him quite a bit. (Odd, it has never happened here.) During that entire time, my husband was unemployed. We have gone from a owning a beautiful house and driving a BMW convertible to being unable to buy basic groceries some weeks. My husband at last started a new job last week. We were pretty happy to get back to a routine. Then yesterday, Cole had a huge breakdown. We had a small disciplinary incident and he became hysterical. I was holding his hamster at the time, and he lunged at me and tried to rip her out of my hands, almost crushing her. He began throwing things and hitting himself. This continued for about 20 minutes. Then, he laid down in fetal position and sobbed and cried for the hamster. He said he hated himself and that he wished he was never born. This was very frightening for both of us. Today, I cancelled all of our activities, and we had a pamper day. I made him a bubble bath and fed him a good breakfast. We walked into town for lunch and I bought him a stuffed animal. We cuddled and watched a movie and played board games. I felt like he needed to be cared for. (BTW, we did not back down at all on the consequences for his original wrongdoing.) Cole was very quiet and clingy and cuddly today. He spent a lot of time talking to his stuffed animals. This is not totally unheard of, but definitely a bit much. I m still pretty shaken up. And I m hoping it isn t a sign that he is mentally ill. I have bipolar disorder. It seems to have come down from my paternal grandmother. In any case, do you have any observations or suggestions for me? Thanks, Cindy
Tue, 26 Nov 2019
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Addiction Medicine Specialist 's  Response
Hi,

Cannot say in your particular case, but generally, stresses affect children and generally they get over it. I would really recommend an older child psychiatrist for evaluation because I am going to make a wild possibility that I am not entirely comfortable with--he is doing great.

He certainly has empathy, he is far from anything like a psychopath with HIGH empathy and caring rather than low. He certainly has connection to family and no psychosis. Things might be going quite well and you cannot make a bipolar diagnosis at this age without signs that would truly get someone into admission (staying up > 48 hrs, delusions and hallucinations, non-stop totally peculiar speech). Also, bipolar is a genetic disease..the vast majority have multiple other members of the family with it.

Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further.

Regards,
Dr. Matt Wachsman, Addiction Medicine Specialist
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Suggest Treatment For Aggressive Behavior And Depressive Mood

Hi, Cannot say in your particular case, but generally, stresses affect children and generally they get over it. I would really recommend an older child psychiatrist for evaluation because I am going to make a wild possibility that I am not entirely comfortable with--he is doing great. He certainly has empathy, he is far from anything like a psychopath with HIGH empathy and caring rather than low. He certainly has connection to family and no psychosis. Things might be going quite well and you cannot make a bipolar diagnosis at this age without signs that would truly get someone into admission (staying up 48 hrs, delusions and hallucinations, non-stop totally peculiar speech). Also, bipolar is a genetic disease..the vast majority have multiple other members of the family with it. Hope I have answered your question. Let me know if I can assist you further. Regards, Dr. Matt Wachsman, Addiction Medicine Specialist