My brother

Hey,

I'm new here, so I want to introduce myself. Then ask if you guys have any advice. Not sure if this is the right section for this, but here goes:

My brother used to be a really sweet kid--really affectionate too. When I was 14 or 15, and he was around 10, my dad left , and my parents were separated for about 6 months. He didn't take this very well. Since then, he's only gotten worse. Now, he stays in his room and plays computer games all day, he never goes out with friends, and he's really irritable and angry all the time. You should see the way he talks to my mom.

Aside from this, he's always gotten straight As in school, in all honors and AP classes. But my mom just called me and told me that she got his most recent report card, which was all Cs. This completely shocked me.

Is this just a variation of normal teenage behavior (he just turned 16)? I don't remember being this bad when I was his age.

Any suggestions?

Hey,

His behaviour is very worrying and something should be done about it. He's young and won't be able to envision that what he is doing now is damaging his future. Seriously, this needs to get sorted before he gets too far down this 'wrong' track. Firstly, he needs to get out of the shell that he is currently living in. How is he around you? If he is reasonably ok with you, then maybe you should be the one to drag him out to make him remember that life can be good.

Kevin

Hi Kevin,

Thanks so much for your reply! He's not usually ok around me anymore, unfortunately, and I'm away at school for most of the year. The only people that he seems to connect to are my other brother and my dad. That is, when he's not in his room. Next time I'm home, I'll try to drag him out and get him to do something with me...

No problem litupbythecity, but don't try to force him to go out; and if he says 'no', don't start asking why or raise your voice to him. If he rejects, just say, "that's okay", and then leave him alone. He will probably expect you to have been angry with him but, when he sees that you are not, he will be forced to consider what just happened (and may actually come around to wanting to go out). It's a bit of reverse psychology.

Take care,
Kevin

Friend, your brother is showing signs of depression since he is withdrawing, angry and doing poorly in school. *mod edit*

Talk to your Mom about this since intervention should happen quickly to interrupt further escalation of symptoms such as suicide ideation. A school counselor may be available for consultation on your brother as well. Sometimes these are symptoms of substance abuse but, my guess is that he's depressed.