Went to see difficult child 2 in psychiatric hospital yesterday afternoon. We played a little cards and then he quit. Said he'd been playing cards all day. We asked him where he put the knives that are missing and he told us where to find one but didn't know where the other one might be. (We still can't find the second one.)
Then he announced that the new psychiatrist told him he "just" needs therapy and she's going to take him off the Geodon and just have him on Zoloft which she started him on yesterday. He said this with a gloating look and the clear intention of putting us in our place.
Really.
Then he left abruptly in another power play gesture saying he was done and we could leave now.
I went straight to the social worker and asked her to meet with us. We spent an hour talking about difficult child 2 and this BS. She doesn't know what the psychiatrist really said to him - neither do we of course. He may have completely twisted her words around. But we have had this problem before with the psychiatrists at this psychiatric hospital. They tell him stuff that completely undermines our authority at home without even talking to us first and then he uses it to triangulate us with the doctors.
She brought up all these things he had told them that are half-truths or distortions. We knocked every one down for her with specific examples. Ok she says and sits back looking very thoughtful. She asked if he had been tested for language problems and I said yes and his 2008 speech assessment showed that he is unable to take another person's perspective, is very concrete (she nods her head), and cannot tell when his communication is clear and when he really understands what someone else is telling him.
Social worker is like - that explains some things.
Uh huh.
Apparently he tried to explain to her about why his sleep is so messed up and why he's been taking Klonopin. Made NO sense at all. He couldn't answer her questions in a way that made any sense to her and she said she finally gave up. and in group that day he had taken something she said and completely misinterpreted it. she tried repeatedly to clarify and again finally gave up because he was insistent he was right and she was wrong.
I told her - Welcome to our world. He thinks he understands you and that you understand him, you think you understand him and that he understands you. Neither one is true. And once he's decided something you cannot successfully challenge his version - when he is unstable. When he's stable sometimes you can reason with him pretty well. But when he's not - it all goes out the window.
She said she would talk to the psychiatrist and caution her that she couldn't rely on what he tells her to be accurate. I told her that I had thought the psychiatrist understood that the day he was admitted because I told her then that he was really out of touch with reality and she said she could tell that from talking to him. SW said she'd remind her.
I also told her that he was not stable when they discharged him last time and that was how we got into giving him so much Klonopin. I told her the night nurse said he had trouble going to sleep and trouble getting up when he was there in May but that the psychiatrist told us he wasn't having any trouble. She looked kind of alarmed by that and we discussed it in more detail. She said she was going to look into that because it was really important that the psychiatrists got accurate information from the staff. I said - well what the night nurse might consider "trouble" could be different than what the psychiatrist considered trouble I didn't know. All I know is that I called her and asked for advice about how to get him to sleep and that's when she said he had had trouble there. Hope I don't get that person in hot water but it was disconcerting to have the night nurse tell me that at 2 am when I can't get him to sleep and he's been discharged "stable".
Anyway, today I am just mad at him and all the BS. If that psychiatrist calls me and tells me he just needs therapy and she's taking him off the Geodon, etc. I am pulling him out of there and bringing him home before she completely destabilizes him. If he gets violent again he will just have to go to juvenile hall.
Because if the only reason he assaulted me and wife, hid knives and trashed our house was because he needs "therapy" then he can go to juvenile hall and get some "therapy" courtesy of the judge.
Then he announced that the new psychiatrist told him he "just" needs therapy and she's going to take him off the Geodon and just have him on Zoloft which she started him on yesterday. He said this with a gloating look and the clear intention of putting us in our place.
Really.
Then he left abruptly in another power play gesture saying he was done and we could leave now.
I went straight to the social worker and asked her to meet with us. We spent an hour talking about difficult child 2 and this BS. She doesn't know what the psychiatrist really said to him - neither do we of course. He may have completely twisted her words around. But we have had this problem before with the psychiatrists at this psychiatric hospital. They tell him stuff that completely undermines our authority at home without even talking to us first and then he uses it to triangulate us with the doctors.
She brought up all these things he had told them that are half-truths or distortions. We knocked every one down for her with specific examples. Ok she says and sits back looking very thoughtful. She asked if he had been tested for language problems and I said yes and his 2008 speech assessment showed that he is unable to take another person's perspective, is very concrete (she nods her head), and cannot tell when his communication is clear and when he really understands what someone else is telling him.
Social worker is like - that explains some things.
Uh huh.
Apparently he tried to explain to her about why his sleep is so messed up and why he's been taking Klonopin. Made NO sense at all. He couldn't answer her questions in a way that made any sense to her and she said she finally gave up. and in group that day he had taken something she said and completely misinterpreted it. she tried repeatedly to clarify and again finally gave up because he was insistent he was right and she was wrong.
I told her - Welcome to our world. He thinks he understands you and that you understand him, you think you understand him and that he understands you. Neither one is true. And once he's decided something you cannot successfully challenge his version - when he is unstable. When he's stable sometimes you can reason with him pretty well. But when he's not - it all goes out the window.
She said she would talk to the psychiatrist and caution her that she couldn't rely on what he tells her to be accurate. I told her that I had thought the psychiatrist understood that the day he was admitted because I told her then that he was really out of touch with reality and she said she could tell that from talking to him. SW said she'd remind her.
I also told her that he was not stable when they discharged him last time and that was how we got into giving him so much Klonopin. I told her the night nurse said he had trouble going to sleep and trouble getting up when he was there in May but that the psychiatrist told us he wasn't having any trouble. She looked kind of alarmed by that and we discussed it in more detail. She said she was going to look into that because it was really important that the psychiatrists got accurate information from the staff. I said - well what the night nurse might consider "trouble" could be different than what the psychiatrist considered trouble I didn't know. All I know is that I called her and asked for advice about how to get him to sleep and that's when she said he had had trouble there. Hope I don't get that person in hot water but it was disconcerting to have the night nurse tell me that at 2 am when I can't get him to sleep and he's been discharged "stable".
Anyway, today I am just mad at him and all the BS. If that psychiatrist calls me and tells me he just needs therapy and she's taking him off the Geodon, etc. I am pulling him out of there and bringing him home before she completely destabilizes him. If he gets violent again he will just have to go to juvenile hall.
Because if the only reason he assaulted me and wife, hid knives and trashed our house was because he needs "therapy" then he can go to juvenile hall and get some "therapy" courtesy of the judge.
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