I take a form of Depakote and it has really helped me, but I still have a lot of rambling, muttering, and talking to something that isn't there. It feels like I'm responding to a person, but it's not like it's a person I see or hear. It can sound quite frightening or angry to others at times. It's definitely better than it used to be and fading more every year. I wish your son the best.

Those symptoms for me however are likely side effects from being on Seroquel because I did not have those symptoms before then.

In my specific case, the red flags were going from being a high performing student to dropping out of high school completely. High periods of energy where I would do things like make annoying noises, slap myself in the face, or otherwise inflict pain on myself thinking it was comical. Total isolation from friends and family members if I could avoid them. Having only one friend at any given time because it was all I could manage. Having extremely uncharacteristic violent behaviour even though I was quite well behaved. Stealing things even though I would never have done anything like that before. Avoiding any and all drugs and alcohol even though other teenagers were having fun experimenting. Typically, not being your average kid or teenager should be a giant red flag.

I asked my family members and they have told me that they thought I was autistic, but nobody bothered to try to get a professional medical opinion. I had so much social anxiety that I didn't talk much to girls until I was in college, and my family assumed I was gay.

If your child or teenager is not acting like a normal child or teenager of their age, there's a good chance that something isn't right. Your choices when we are young can change the entire direction of our lives.