Hi
My son 22years old, has been battling with adult diagnosed ADHD (recently diagnosed by a psychologist, although my son has been seeing a psychiatrist for over 12 months now) and has all the associated self esteem, drug abuse, mood swings etc common to undiagnosed ADHD as well as the effects of long term drug abuse (mostly marijuana). While using drugs, my son did have a few short episodes of psychotic behaviour, usually only lasting a few hours and consisting of mainly anger alternating with extreme sadness. He stopped using all drugs 4 months ago and was then diagnosed after completing the two ADHD diagnostic tests 4 weeks ago. He started with a drug for adult ADHD and soon had his old energy back and after not leaving tthe house for about 6 months, he started catching up with friends again and going out. Unfortunately at this time he also began seeming a little 'off', energised, not really manic, just not typical behaviour for him. He definitely used drugs again and last Wed night started having in depth discussions with us about a range of conspiracies around him and become a little threatening. We tried to get him to admit himself to a hospital but of course he did not think there was anything wrong. The second time I called for an ambulance to try to convince him to go for treatment, the operator heard him shouting and swearing and called for the police to attend. When the ambulance arrived, he again indicated he was fine and would not go with them, so the ambulance officer imposed an ITO. He was taken to the public hospital mental assessment unit and after waiting for 5 hours was admitted by the attending psychiatrist. He then spent from Thursday morning till Monday afternoon in the secure locked section of the mental health ward, as there were no consultants available to discuss his treatment due to the long weekend. He has since been allowed into the general ward recreation area but still needs to sleep in the secure section. He has been back to his usual self since Saturday afternoon.
My plea for assistance or advice is: how do we get the ITO removed, if his consultant is only due in again on Friday, and who has to date not even spoken to my son, never mind discussed any sort of treatment plan.
:If I can't get the ITO removed so he can be discharged, how can I get him transferred to a private clinic, which I have been requesting since Friday. My son's psychiatrist does not have admitting rights at any hospital, and I can't find a psychiatrist at a private clinic willing to immediately take my son as a patient so we can have him transferred.
Any advice?
