Please help. My daughter is in high
school and she met a WONDERFUL boy a
couple of years older than she.
This boy is brilliant, creative, polite,
athletic, handsome, charismatic,
high-energy, charming, and extremely
accomplished. He could talk to us--her
parents--about anything, with complete
ease and polish.
From day one this boy was head over heels
with daughter (16). For the first 10 days
he would text her and call her day and
night, more than she did him. They went
out to dinner and/or movies and/or the
beach and/or coffee houses every single
day. He wanted to spend hours and hours
with daughter but she had to tell him to
slow down. He would tell daughter he
wanted to take her on vacation with him,
he wanted her to come visit him at college
(he's going off to school in December), he
wanted to be a couple, he was thrilled
with her, he loved every single thing--her
gestures, the way she talked, her nose
...on and on. He took her home to meet
his parents and they all talked and made
plans to go out to dinner together . He
introduced her to his boss at work and his
athletic coach. He spent the day with us
at our summer home and we (parents) were
thrilled with him, what a great person for
our gifted, creative daughter. They were
always laughing and smiling together, he
was genuinely happy to be in her company.
On day 11 he called and texted daughter
several times through the course of the
day, saying he would be over at 5 to pick
her up for dinner. This boy was always
punctual. But at 3 he called to say his
dad was ill and he had to take him to the
ER, he would be in touch shortly. It was
the boy's last day in town, he was going
away for a 3-week trip and he wanted to
have dinner with daughter and give her a
present he had bought just for her.
7, 8, 9 o'clock rolls around, nothing.
Daughter frantically texts and asks if
everything is ok. No response. She's
worried sick. The next day, no news from
him. As a matter of fact, 5 days pass and
no word. He hasn't even gone onto his
myspace. On the 6th day he logs into his
myspace, so daughter knows he is alive.
There are pictures posted showing him at
his vacation destination with his family.
But no contact from him. Daughter is
crushed.
It has been 2 weeks and D is hurt beyond
belief. NOW daughter tells me that he had
told her that he was in a depression and
had made several suicide attempts in the
past and he is taking meds for his
depression because he has a "chemical
imbalance." There is a history of this
imbalance "in his family" he also said.
Daughter said he had never confided this
to any of his peers, nobody outside the
family knew, but he felt he could trust
her because she had shared some really
private things with him about her own
personal issues.
We are trying to figure out what has
happened. Do these sound like bipolar
symptoms? Daughter said there were a few
strange things about him--little things
that, in retrospect, didn't seem quite
right--him talking about taking her with
him on the family vacation on their 2nd
date; him making plans for her to visit
him in college on their 3rd date...he was
constantly concerned about his appearance,
looking in his car mirror every 5 minutes,
lining up things in perfect order whenever
he sat down (like at a coffee table, etc).
He told her he is an insomniac and that
is why he would text her at 2, 3, 4 in the
morning, only to wake up at 10 and text
her again. But daughter overlooked all
this (and more little quirks) because he
was so engaging and upbeat.
When this boy comes back to town (next
week) we are concerned that he may try to
contact daughter and start up with her
again. We're afraid because we know
daughter will jump at the chance to see
him and the pattern will repeat itself, if
he is, indeed, bipolar .
What do you think and how should we handle
it?
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elizadoo
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 24 Jun 2008 Posts: 2
Posted: 06-24-08 23:23pm
I have to add, because it apears I can't
edit--this boy has been in contact with a
couple of his friends here in town because
he has posted comments to them on his
myspace since being on his trip.
The other very confusing thing is, that
although he has not had any contact with
daughter, when she did get onto his
myspace page (a week or so into his trip)
she asked him if she could be added as one
of his "friends" and he approved it and
added her as a friend. A very mixed
message!
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CarolDiane
Supporter
Joined: 23 Sep 2007 Posts: 2401
Thanks: 111
Thanked:156
Posted: 06-24-08 23:39pm
Teens can be very fickle too. Head over
heals in love on day and on the prowl the
next. We use to call it "Puppy Love". I
would not be so fast to think Bipolar yet.
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timtam81
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 25 Jun 2008 Posts: 6
Posted: 06-25-08 10:58am
CarolDiane
wrote:
Teens can be very fickle
too. Head over heals in love on day and on
the prowl the next. We use to call it
"Puppy Love". I would not be so fast to
think Bipolar
yet.
Me neither. Whilst some of the signs are
there, it may just be that he's simply
messing her about, which is unfortunate,
but something that teenagers do. Heck,
people of all ages play games in
relationships. Sometimes, there is a root
cause like bipolar disorder or borderline
personality disorder, but sometimes it's
just on a whim.
All you can do for your lovely daughter
now is comfort her as best you can. Spoil
her a bit, giver her lots of cuddles and
love, and share your experiences (positive
and negative) with love so that she knows
that all of us have been through this, in
some form or another.