The phone rings and you pick up the receiver. On the other end of the line are your friends. Something is not right. You can almost feel the fear and frustration coming across the line. As you listen you learn that their teenage son is flipping out. The parents of the teenager are perplexed because their son has always had a nice, kind disposition. But lately things have changed.
It’s hard to get the boy to come out of his room; when he does, he barely speaks to anyone. And even then it’s brief and cynical and disrespectful. You come to learn that most of the teen’s personal habits are changing too. He seems to hardly care what he looks like. Everything seems to be falling apart in this teen’s life.
What put the parents over the top and prompted the phone call was the discovery of wounds on the boy’s arms. He had been trying to hide his ritual cutting for some time, but after forgetting to put on a long-sleeved shirt the scabs were obvious. The parents tried to get information out of their son, but the boy was unyielding. The parents persisted and after feeling like he was backed into a corner, the teen went on a verbal rant and then pushed his parents out of the way as he ran outside. The parents had heard of this kind of thing before, but never thought it would be a problem in their home.
Most unnerving to them was learning that this kind of behavior can lead to attempts at suicide. Now the parents were really frightened and they are asking for your help.
Questions for you to ponder
- What would you initially say to your friends?
- If the teenager refused to talk with you, how would you try to help him?
- How do the parents figure into the boy’s struggles?
- If the boy threatened suicide, what would you tell the parents to do?
- What other questions do you think are relevant here?
