My son said hes seeing things and hearing voices and now hes at a christian mental heath place and now said hes not sure?

Answer 1

I can tell from your question that you're very worried about your son. Considering the depth of your concern and the risks to your son, I'm going to try and speak very openly to you -- I promise to be as objective as I can. Please DO verify what I say, or even show it to your doctors. 1. Schizoform disorders (i.e. schizophrenia) do not manifest visual hallucinations. So whatever you're seeing here is either two disorders occurring simultaneously (not likely and not the first place you should look, but possible), or another disorder entirely. 2. Visual hallucinations, very generally speaking, have three causes: neurological disorders, psychological disorders and medication problems. If your son is not exposed to a lengthy and continuous course of street drugs, and is not taking any psychoactive prescription medicine, you can rule this out. If he IS taking prescription medicine, you personally need to read the warnings on the medication and look it up on the internet, so that YOU understand all the possible side effects. Ask about that medication here and we'll gladly help. 3. You have not given me any specifics about your son, e.g. his age, existing health challenges, history, timeline of the onset of the current disorder, so it's extremely difficult for me to give you good advice. That said, if I guess correctly that your son is prepubescent, and his reports of his condition show a fast progression, schizophrenia is likely ruled out. Part of the reason for this is childhood schizophrenia (a rare thing -- it usually manifests later in life) tends to have a history to it. 4. This leaves leaves psychological and neurological. It's extremely hard for a layman to make these assessments, and being family makes it even harder. So allow me to give some guidelines: a. Read all you can. Ask for invovlement. Find one Doctor Who you can work with that will lead the team that will assess your son, and require him to explain everything to you. b. If the problem is determined to be psycholoigcal, it may be that the treatment team determine that you are potentially part of the cause. DON'T get angry. Try and work with this. Explain your very real worry and care here. AND seek another outside opinion from another doctor. 5. I note you say a "Christian Mental Hospital" in your question. I would caution you about this -- here's why: a. Any hospital with an agenda will tend to see things in their own familiar way. Ergo, a Psych facility will tend to find psycholoigcal answers, and a neurological facility will look more into physiology. Your job as parent is to make sure no diagnosis is acceptable only because that's what the facility knows best. Until you have a diagnosis you're reasonably certain is correct, try and not limit the examination to one school of medicine. There are both psychological and neurological indications here; make certain the diagnosis is an objective one. b. Note that the religious affiliation of the hospital is completely irrelevant to the level of care the hospital may or may not offer. Please make sure you consider the hospital, the doctors, and whole care team, on their own merits and not on their religious affiliations. Let me know if you have any further questions.