10 year old Autistic terrified of Death

01-08-2005, 08:41 PM

Hi my name is Lynda. I am some what new to the board. I have a 7 year old boy with autism. I have a close friend with a 10 year old boy with High functioning Autism. I am wondering if any of you have had to deal with death in the way my friend has with her son, and if you have any suggestions for her. Her son, Alex, is terrified of death, only concered with the people he loves. He will just outburst in crying and start saying that he will miss everything. She has tried to explain to him that when you die you go to heaven. He has no consept of time so when she told him he wouldn't die for a 100 years that didn't help. she also explained to him that he would go to heaven and how wonderful heaven is. He doesn't want to go to heaven he wants to stay here. He also doesn't want to leave his mother and is concerned who will take care of him when she is gone.
At Thanks Giving dinner he burst out into tears saying he will miss thanks giving and turkey. He cried for over two hours. Nothing see seems to say helps him. She has tried almost everything and has even taken him to counsler and the coulsler had him doing some weird music dancing therapy and he cried through it all. Nothing has helpped. She doesn't want to medicate him because that doesn't solve the problem. I feel so bad for her because she also has a gifted and talented child and a bipolar child. Her hands are full and she has gone to the school, counslers and doctors and can't seem to get help. These out bursts are a daily thing lasting 2 or more hours. If anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I can only imagine how heart renching this is for her.

Thanks,
lfreet

01-09-2005, 10:44 PM

Just because a child is Autistic doesn't mean he can't have Clinical Depression, too. I think she needs to reconsider anti-depressants, before his fear causes him to withdraw. It might also be a good idea for her to keep a calendar of when he is afraid, to see if this mood is cyclical. My heart goes out to her.

01-12-2005, 08:33 AM

I was told alot of kids with disabilities will suffer depression at some point in their life, if not their whole life. Im not too concerned that it is death he is worried about...at some point we all have feared death. Im concerned that he is obsessed with it. Ive read about depression( i was clinically depressed 4 years ago myself) and talked to doctors about it and usually depressed people think about death more, they dwell or obsess more,exspecially on the darker side of life or the unknown.It is hard to rationalize with people who are on a different thought process, exspecially a dark one. I too, myself, would obsess over my loved ones everyday, afraid they would die or something would happen and I would cry about it all the time. It was apart of my depression, being in that frame of mind. There might be some underlying issues he isnt communicating with you such as...his feelings about his autism, friends, relationships, school and anything else a little guy cant communicate his feelings about that are being repressed. It might be a good idea to see his doctor and get some counseling for him. Someone who knows how to get a child with communication problems to open up... Good luck and God Bless your little one.

01-12-2005, 04:02 PM

Low seratonin can be a problem....My son has it, and went through a rough depression with lots of anxiety starting at about Jr. High age. He is now an adult and takes Paxil. Through the teen years he took St. John's Wort.

10 year old Autistic terrified of Death

Sign Up Today!

Join Our Newsletter

Whoops,

Thank You