[mentalhealth] today i was with my family and ohboy, my poor nephew
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[mentalhealth] today i was with my family and ohboy, my poor nephew
[mentalhealth] today i was with my family and ohboy, my poor nephew
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editing top plurk to say that this discusses mental health things
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just in case
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anyway, my sister told me about how her 7 year old has been struggling recently. like really struggling, just with life in general
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and as she described some of the stuff he'd told her to me i was like "oh no this sounds familiar"
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so i talked to him one on one, just asking about his thoughts and feelings and what brings them about and can confirm, this 7 year old is starting to go through a major depression
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a lot of it passive stuff, same as me. just wishes and not actual will or compulsion
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i think it's a good thing that we've found it early, and it may very well be a product of how the current state of the world has forced his extroverted self has no real social outlet in terms of friends he can hang out with, so maybe when the world starts to return to the Old Ways he'll start to feel better
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but yeah, we ended up exchanging war stories a little bit, and i reminded him that we all love him very much despite how hard some of us might be on him. and i gave my sister some advice about keeping communication open with him, listening to him when he needs to talk, letting him know his feelings are valid
BIG DAD ENERGY
oh my god 
BIG DAD ENERGY
seven?
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yep
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he turns 8 in july
BIG DAD ENERGY
g o d
BIG DAD ENERGY
that's... so fucked up
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so like... talking about this with a seven year old really hurt me
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his biggest stressor is school, and being constantly told he has to do work that he has a hard time with, and i was like it is totally normal to hate school
hella
I was 8 when they diagnosed me with dysthymia and I am 100% sure that I’ve only been able to manage it as well as I do because of that early intervention, so it is definitely good that you guys were able to recognize that stuff. It’ll do a world of good whether this is temporary/situational or an on going thing.
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it was also just... so much like talking into a mirror, and it totally freaked me out
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yeah omg i'm glad too. it makes me glad that my family knows that i suffer from depression as well so they know to come to me and just be like "is this a thing?"
hella
yeah, they’re seeing signs of depression in caleb and he’s only 4. and we’ve already been told he most likely has anxiety. so it manifests really early in some people.
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my sister asked me if this was early and if he's too young and i'm like "honestly i remember having passive suicidal thoughts as early as maybe 6, so"
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yeah it could be anxiety as well! it's hard to say exactly, but i definitely told her it's something to monitor and communicate with him about a lot
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yeaaaahhhhp
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he's getting it from both sides, too. his dad's brother also has depression
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my sister was jokingly like "SO IT'S YOU AND HIM THAT DID THIS" and i was just like "OOPS SORRY"
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yep
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they can start working on finding effective coping mechanisms
BIG DAD ENERGY
i said it in disco but im saying again
BIG DAD ENERGY
i'm really proud of you
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sob thank you daddy
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i also told them like, if there's ever something he doesn't feel comfortable talking about with his mom or dad, then he can always go to me
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in funnier news, he looked up "naked girls sex" on his school google account and the school notified my sister
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lol we were like "is-- is this a boy thing?? i cannot relate"
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oh his parents talked to him like "um. ok i guess we're going to have The Sex Talk at 7"
Oathkeeper
Seven? Oh man. I am so glad you guys caught it early though and hopefully can keep an eye on him if it is something definitely more ongoing and long term than '2020 sucks and he wants to See His Friends Again' sort of thing.
Oathkeeper
Kudos to you for taking the time to chat with him and help out though, that's awesome and I hope he feels comfortable now to go see you if he needs to about it.
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i was happy to do it, tbh. i just hope it helps, long run
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and i do hope it's just a "2020 Sucked" thing because... depression shit sucks, man
Oathkeeper
Yeah. I guess the only way to know for sure on that is to wait and see if he improves once things are on a more normal level and he gets out more again. :l fingers crossed though!
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sob yeah