Marcia,
Welcome! I'm glad you found us.
If your child was prescribed Depakote, I'm guessing the doctors are thinking mood disorder rather than ADD. Depakote is a mood stabilizer that is used to treat Bipolar Disorder. It's important to understand that anxiety and depression (unipolar or bipolar) can present with symptoms like inattention. And ADHD medications like stimulants can make kids with mood disorders worse so your doctor is right to be hesitant about prescribing them.
I think it's very important that you tell the doctor about the conversation you had with your son. He sounds very anxious and depressed. Is he seeing a board-certified child psychiatrist for medication management? Is he in therapy to learn to cope with his feelings? in my humble opinion, both are very important components of your difficult child's treatment.
You should also be aware that while Depakote can control raging, it can also cause depression as a side effect. It happened to my difficult child 1. He has done better on the mood stabilizer Lamictal (with a low dose of an antidepressant); we are in the process of weaning him off of Depakote because his depression has been difficult to treat. Of course, every kid reacts differently to every medication, but I wanted you to be aware of this possibility.
Again, welcome. Weekends tend to be slow around here, but others will be along soon to offer their advice and support.
