Cynic.
A person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.
Cynicism.
The attitude or beliefs of a cynic.
I spoke briefly with David’s doctor today. Seems David is doing very well. As well as anyone has ever seen him behave.
Which is great. Don’t get me wrong, I think that the strides he is making are wonderful. However, David is well versed in manipulating his world into what he wants and sees as ideal. So I take everything with a salt lick size grain of salt.
We had a period when he was home last year, before things started the downhill slide, where he was quite good. Where his behavior was more of what we would expect from a typical teenager. Until he started stealing, lying, and trying to crash the family van. When we would begin to tighten the restrictions on him as a response to his behavior, things got worse almost immediately.
So while I think it is wonderful that David is doing so well, I also wonder two things.
- What is his goal?
- What does he want?
I mentioned to the doctor that this doesn’t mean that David is well enough to come home, or that he was cured by any means, and the doctor agreed with me. We are not ready emotionally as a family for David to return home. Doctor agreed with me in my assessment.
If only it were as simple as all of that. He goes away for 6 months, we make some medication changes, and he is notably recovered enough to return home without the threats of physical violence against me or the rest of the family. We won’t have him stealing the neighbors riding mower, giving away our family yard equipment, or attacking me with a shovel.
But we don’t talk about these things in therapy sessions. We talk about things that are inconsequential, and not likely to cause any behaviors.
On the other hand, we have taken David off campus a number of times when we have been in the city, mostly to have dinner with the family, and things have gone well. Seems we are constantly telling him to pull up his pants, but.. that seems an issue with all teens.
