So, my son has had some emotional issues over the years.  I’ll start after he graduated from high school in 2021.  He went off into the Job Corps program but lasted one day before he was sent to a psych hospital.  They diagnosed him with bipolar and got him on meds.  Job Corps said he could come back after he’s medically/psychologically stabilized and he even got a part time job at a grocery store.  

However, the meds he was on weren’t right for him.  They were causing him to have uncontrollable back/neck/eye spasms and he lost his job because of that.  I’ve been on a few psych meds when I was a teen and I’ve actually had that reaction so I know how uncomfortable it can be.  But instead of finding a new medication or a new treatment with his doctor, he’s not getting any treatment at all now and it’s causing problems.  

He went back to Job Corps and lasted a couple of days before he went back to a psych hospital.  He stayed with me for a while but he just sat on the couch, watching tv and playing video games, refused to take meds, look for work or do much anything.  Eventually he had one of his manic episodes where he just gets worked up and upset and talks at a really rapid pace without pausing or listening to anyone, and when I tried to do basic household jobs like make dinner or clean the cat box, he got mad and yelled at me for not sufficiently listening to him.  He was getting aggressive and violent and I didn’t trust him alone in the house while I go to work so he went back to my ex, his mom.

He lasted a while there until he had another episode that involved a fight with his brother where he pulled out a kitchen knife and when his mom got between them, he started cutting himself.  He went back to a psych hospital but he was told that he can’t live with my ex/his siblings if he’s pulling knives on people.

He went into a shelter program for a while but that didn’t work out; I didn’t ask for details but I have a feeling I know what happened.  As of now, he tried calling me in the middle of the night but I was asleep with my ringer off.  He called his sister and he was having another manic episode which made her very uncomfortable.  He wanted to stay with me but I told him he would have to take meds and now he refuses.  He won’t even talk to a therapist because he’s firmly convinced they’re just going to put him on meds he won’t like.  

I can sympathize with him for not liking meds and not liking the reaction to those meds, but if he isn’t getting any treatment he’s not doing well at all and I don’t know how to help him.