Hello,

I am writing to you to seek help about my nephew who is 20 years old. He used to be very inquisitive, talented and bright child till he was 16 years old. He was very close to his grandfather and used to spend most of his time with him. When my nephew was 16 years old, his grandfather died of old age. After that we don't know what happened to him, but he is not normal after that incident. He stopped going out, captured himself in a room, quit going to school, stopped interacting with family members and friends became a loner. After 2 years or so, came a stage when he became very aggressive. He was very hostile towards his mother and brother and appeared as a very ill mannered and irritating child. He has now become normal in his behavior, but he lacks confidence and is fearful to do things. He does not go to college because he is scared of it. All he does is be around his family. I have observed he lies about stuff which reveals his fear of things. It seems that he runs away from truth and does not want to face it. His condition has improved a lot but only thing that is left is his inferiority complex and fear to face things. I am telling my sister to be strong once and send him to his college dorm, but my sister says that it has taken lot of time for him to come out of depression and he will go back to it if he is forced to stay away from family. We are very worried about him and don't know what to do. Can anyone here please share their knowledge/thoughts related to this problem?

Thanks.

biirat