Question: my son 20 years old was in the hostel and his record showed a lot of absenteism for the morning classes.afternoon classes were attended.on enquiring i found out that he was abusing marihuana.he was called back and urine drug levels tested positive for cannabis in october 2014.at home he stoipped taking the drug .For almost 15-20 days he was okay but then slowly he withdrew into himself,became aloof and irritable.sleeping pattern altered.he would keep awake entire night and sleep at around 4 or 5 am till late afternoon.would not eat properly and not interact much with us .he however would meet or go out with his friends.if we tried to reason with him he would even get violent.we got a psychiatric consultation in january2015.the doctor visited our place and without disclosing his identity talked to him for about 45 minutes.he diaganosed him as psychoses,probably drug induced and put him on olanzapine 5 mg.he started improving immediately.became a normal 20 year old except that getting up early in the morning was tough but he could manage to get up after a lot of coercing at around 8.30 or 8.45 am.he started working as a trainer in an ielts acaedamy 9 to 5.he continued well except for few days in a month when he failed to get up in time to go to his work.this continued for three months when in the month of may he just could not get up till about 11 am and subsequently lost his job.upon getting up in the afternoons he was fine and could manage to do whatever work he was asked to do.but after few days he again became a bit irritable and somewhat aloof.his psychiatrist said that this was a seasonal variation due to which there is a slight aggravation and that he would come out of it .but he is continuing the same way.in between my son was also put on topiramide for a month as he had a craving for alcohol but that was withdrawn in may due to excessive sleep.now his problem remains day time sleeping.he sleeps by 12.30 at night till afternoon.even if we wake him up he again goes back to sleep. after his psychiatric consult he feels very relaxed and happy for 3 to 4 days.its been 4 months since he has been taking olanzapine and there has been a marked improvement overall but i am worried about this little deterioration since 1 month.he starts college in july.i need him to get up and be able to go to college.is olanzapine fine.he has an appointment with his doctor tmoro and the doctor told me that if he doesnt improve he might need to change the medication.my question is that are we on the right track .

Dr apart from the meds what else can I do to help him.How should we tackle him at home.should we treat him as a patient and pamper him and ignore his behaviour or should we tick him off cos that leads to him getting more irritated and withdrawing.if we ask him to get up in the morning or to study as he has enrolled in some distant education program and has to take his exams he gets irritated.I feel this is a tantrum and he is taking undue advantage of our leniency or can it be a part of his illness.pls guide as to what should the parents approach be in such a case.How can I help my son become a productive member of the society.

hello sir.Thanks for ur response to my queries.sir y'day me and my husband went to meet the doctor .our first concern was that my son was unable to get up in the morning even after full undisturbed sleep.and second was his irritability which was not constant but an off and on feature and that too with family not friends or outsiders.the doctor took a detailed history in which we told him that his communication with us is both responsive as well as interactive.after getting up he would do whatever work my husband put him to relating to his business.he also enjoys going for outings with friends and family.enjoys his tv shows.so the doctor feltthat he has no depressive or psychotic features and reduced olanzapine to 2.5 mg.olanzapine was started in a dose of 5mg 5months back.he felt that the sleep problems could be coz of olanzapine and decreasing the dose would help as there are no other symptoms.my query is that can a decrease in dose bring back the psychotic symptoms.the doctor also shared with us that my son had a delusional belief that if he goes to the university his friends would push him towards drugs although as far as I know his friends are clean.so if it is a delusional fear then will decreasing the dose aggravate the problem.how can I counsel him and make him strong so that he does not stray again..we r not sending him back to the hostel instead we have got him migrated to a university in our home town.

Thanks sir for answering my queries.sir I have read somewhere that early twenties is also the age of onset of schizophrenia.and schizophrenia is a type of psychosis.so how do I know that my son's psychosis is not schizophrenia per se or schizophrenia triggered by drug.and if he is prone to psychosis then what are the factors that can bring back a relapse apart from drugs..can I give him some medication that can keep him away from drugs .and since now he is free of psychotic symptoms how much longer should the meds continue as they also have side effects.