Dean and Nicole stared at each other like deer in the headlights. Their kids’ behavior shocked them…again. Where was this coming from? Caden screamed at his sister, throwing a vase at her, which hit the wall and shattered. Emma, his 14 year-old sister, ran to her room, slammed the door, and locked it. Again. There was so much turmoil — and neither Dean nor Nicole had grown up in volatile households. They didn’t know what to do with all this. They’d always enjoyed a peaceful, supportive family atmosphere, till now. Well, looking back, conflict and dysfunction had slowly crept in over the past 3 years, but it was getting way out of hand. Nicole had come into Emma’s room a few weeks ago, and found her cutting her ankles… just above the hem of her jeans, where no one could see. Nicole had never seen anything like it. Several parallel lines of blood on each ankle. When she asked Emma what she was doing, Emma just shrugged. She shared the disturbing scene with Dean later that night. They were a family in crisis — and they hadn’t seen it coming.
At the same time, Caden seemed to be having more and more frequent meltdowns, without any obvious provocation.
He was deeply depressed when he was 13, and now it seemed he was going into depression again. But these volatile outbursts from time to time didn’t fit a pattern they understood. Clearly, their family was in crisis, and they didn’t know what to do about it.
Different Symptoms in Different Family Members
They had always had a healthy structure in their family, and their 12 year-old daughter Ashley had responded well to it, excelling at school, making friends, and enjoying outings with them. But as Caden and Emma each hit puberty, their emotions seemed to swing more and more out of control.
Caden pushed against boundaries, sometimes broke curfew, and was not that willing to follow through on his responsibilities. They tried a variety of consequences in search for a more effective method, but grounding him didn’t change his behavior much.
Sometimes he did productive things, like experiment with recipes, tinker in the garage with woodworking — but other times he just lay in bed and slept long hours when he was too depressed to be creative.
And once he was no longer grounded, he was back to his same old habits.
Emma, on the other hand, caused possibly even more concern. She seemed to withdraw into herself, with very little to say most of the time, or closed up in her room.
Oh, she complied with rules… like making her bed, dusting the living room, and helping with the dishes. But she was listless, emotionally flat. And kept to herself.
She’d been a lively child, full of fun and energy. When she’d walked into a room, it was as if sunshine had come with her. But now she only wore dark colors. She chose her words carefully. And she avoided bathing. Her hair looked dirty. Emma’s and Caden’s struggles put the whole family in crisis.
It Was As If She Was Mourning…
After years of working so hard to help all three of her kids cope with life, Nicole began to succumb to a slump. The daily strain of almost willing Emma and Caden to get up each morning and face school, making sure they ate, driving them to school and pushing them to screw up their courage and get out of the car to walk into school…making sure they did their homework in the afternoons, asking them to just pick up or help with the dishes…on and on and on.
It was exhausting.
Always trying to help Ashley feel supported in the midst of the turmoil with Caden and Emma wasn’t easy, but Nicole was determined to try to protect Ashley from it all— she didn’t want her damaged by what she was seeing at home.
Mom Grows More Drained and Exhausted
Nicole became more and more weary, with each passing month, but she forged on.
Until Caden’s frequent meltdowns took such a toll on her. Now, she was having trouble snapping back.
Tragedy Strikes
Then, a terrifying turn of events became almost too much.
As Nicole stopped in each of the kids’ rooms before she and Dean went to bed, she discovered an empty bottle of sleep aid pills and a partial glass of water beside Emma’s bed. She tried to wake Emma, but she didn’t respond.
She called 911 then shouted to her husband. Emma was limp as Dean kept trying to pick her up, shake her, and shout to make Emma hear him. Soon, Caden and Ashley ran into the room.
After following the ambulance to the hospital, waiting for Emma’s stomach to be pumped, hoping beyond hope that she would recover, and crying together for Emma’s apparent despair, a doctor came to talk to them.
He asked if this had happened before and they assured him it had not. Then he asked if they knew she was cutting herself. Nicole expressed she had just discovered it a couple weeks ago. “Do you think the cutting is connected to her taking the pills tonight?” Dean asked.
“Yes, I think it may be. It’s hospital policy to admit patients for 72 hours who have attempted suicide, then to re-evaluate. So we’re going to admit her once she’s alert and stable.
“Have you seen any psychiatric symptoms in any other members of your family? Possibly behavioral problems, or depression, or severe anxiety?”
Psychiatric Illness Sometimes Runs in Families
Dean and Nicole looked at each other, realizing they had, but they hadn’t grasped what was going on.
“Yes I think so. Our son has had really volatile episodes periodically, and they’re getting to be more common. We try to help and to tighten his structure, but it doesn’t seem to do much to change things with him.
It’s all been a lot to manage for a few years, and I’ve been feeling more and more down. Discouraged. Somewhat hopeless.”
The doctor listened intently. Then, he pulled a writing pad out of his pocket and wrote down a website, then handed Nicole the slip of paper.
Family in Crisis
He said, “It sounds like your family is in a time of crisis. You need support. This is a great psychiatrist not too far from here. She uses advanced treatments for depression, anxiety, PTSD, OCD, bipolar depression, and suicidal thinking. Check out her website and see what you think. The treatment she offers might be a real help to your family.”
Dean and Nicole thanked him. They were stunned by all that had happened. Certainly, they tried to let all he said soak in. They decided, once Emma was out of the woods, to go home and look up this website and see what they could learn.
After Emma was awake, they spent a few minutes with her. She was sheepish, but they reassured her of their love and how glad they were that she had survived… so grateful they’d found her in time. They also assured her they wanted to do whatever was needed help her feel better about herself and her life.
Once they were home, they looked at the website recommended by the emergency doctor. Quickly, they both began exploring and reading. They read about depression and anxiety, how they could be caused by extreme stress, and novel advanced treatments for them. They also learned about bipolar depression, PTSD, OCD, and suicidal thinking.
There was a lot of information about ketamine therapy, and how much it helped. They could see that they were in no position to diagnose their family members, but they read enough to realize there were reasons for Caden’s and Emma’s behaviors, and there were treatments that could help.
In fact, they learned that Nicole was possibly getting depressed herself, from all the stress of her children’s problems and their family crises, and ketamine treatment could help her, too.
Hope Through Ketamine Therapy
As soon as Emma was out of the hospital, they made an appointment as a family to meet with this doctor. She diagnosed Emma with severe major depressive disorder, Caden with bipolar disorder, and agreed with Nicole that she was depressed, and ketamine could help. A lot.
The doctor also explained what ketamine therapy could do for suicidal thinking, and that many times it can stop those thoughts in an afternoon. In fact, this doctor had published a paper on her own data with patients in her practice.
They made appointments to begin infusions for Caden’s bipolar depression, for Emma’s depression and suicidal thoughts, and Nicole’s depression, too.
By the time Emma went for her second infusion, the suicidal thoughts had stopped.
So that crisis was averted. But she continued the infusions, twice a week for 5 more weeks, and her depression symptoms lifted more and more. She was feeling hope and resilience by the 10th infusion, and continued to improve in the weeks that followed.
Caden’s depression was lifting by the 5th infusion, and he was dramatically improved by the 9th. His behavior problems got much better over the following months. His hope, his self-respect, and his joy also improved greatly.
Of course, with the improvement in Caden and Emma, Nicole felt like the weight of the world had lifted from her shoulders, but her ketamine treatment relieved her stress and despair. She had a new spring in her step and new hope for herself and her family… and energy for life after she received 8 infusions in all.
A Reset in This Family’s Life
Three months later, Dean and Nicole agreed they couldn’t have imagined the improvement in their family that was ahead when they’d been so alarmed and stressed out. What a relief! The kids were getting along again, and the loving atmosphere they used to share seemed to be returning. Their family seemed to be past that horrific crisis, finally.
Of course, every family has its challenges, but they had seen enough hard and frightening times to know to appreciate these better days their family was enjoying.
In the following months, Emma needed a booster when her outlook began to sink again. But after that, her hope returned. Her parents were just so thankful there was something they could do to help her stability. And her joy.
She began to shop for new colorful clothes, cute sandals, and natural makeup. And she began to make new friends.
Psychiatric Disorders Often Run in Families
How is your family? When more than one family member is suffering, the pain and chaos can quadruple for everyone. If your family is in crisis, ketamine treatment can offer hope, peace, and resilience.
If you have a family member who has symptoms like Emma, Caden, or Nicole, call us.
The people you love can live rewarding and hopeful lives, and so can you.
It’s for families like yours that we get up every morning.
We want to help.
To the restoration of your best self,
