My Son Changes Completely When Drunk

by Where Does Mom Go From Here
(california)

I am worried about my now 18 year old son. Last night, I was called by a friend to come and pick up my drunk son from a party. By the time I got there, he was in the back of a police officer's car.

The police officer agreed to release him to me, but my son wouldn't stop yelling profanities at the cop, and pushing his body away from me and the cop. He looked right through me and appeared not to comprehend me telling him to calm down and come home with me. The officer said he was yelling gang terms. I also heard my son yelling to God "to forgive them for they do not know", in between, his cursing.

I felt like I was dealing with somebody who has multiple personalities... Is this possible? He was driven away, the cop said he would only charge him with drinking in public, though he had at one point kicked the cop, he had hopped the wall to get into a party he was kicked out of 2x.

There have been 3 other times that he has drank soooo much that I did not know who he was. This has been going on since the age of 15. I have done everything possible to help my son, including moved him to live with my sister for almost a year, and upon his return moved to a different city away from his old friends.

But, it doesn't matter where I move ... this destructive life comes with him, it is in him, and I am at a loss. This past summer we went through a 8 week intense 1/2 day group and family treatment ... and I thought it had helped... but tonight, my son is in jail for the first time ... and there is nothing I can do to help him.

My real question (I'll repeat it) because this was sooo long, is it possible for somebody to have multiple personalities, when they get into this state of mind??? At this moment I feel like my son doesn't have it all mentally.

Answer

Yes, anything is possible when someone has had too much to drink and as a result parts of their personality can manifest that are usually hidden. Some people get loud and obnoxious, others aggressive and violent, others emotional etc. Blackouts can also accompany these extreme personality swings and the next day they often won't remember a thing.

Whether this however means your son has multiple personality disorder or schizophrenia no one can say. You would have to have him psychologically evaluated to determine if he does suffer from an underlying personality disorder. But is it possible? Definitely. And things like alcohol and drugs do bring it out.

Don't however jump to conclusions. Your son obviously needs help and you need to try and find that for him. A proper psychological evaluation would be a good place to start and then take it from there.

Hopefully it shows that there is nothing serious other than your son's drinking habits causing him to act out in irresponsible ways ... and then his drinking problem can be addressed.

Hope that helps. Good Luck.

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