I'm super worried about my 11 year old brother. He was diagnosed early on as ASD. He has improved a lot over the years and there is still a long way to go. However, recently, he has been worrying a lot. Like he watched a scary video on YouTube about 'Bloody Mary' and it literally had him paralysed by fear for weeks - avoiding mirrors (literally walking backwards to not face a mirror - it got so frustrating I would make him look into a mirror to get over it and he would be in floods of tears) and he couldn't tell us that it was about this Bloody Mary video because he was scared of saying the word 'Bloody Mary'. One day, we figured it out and had a long talk with him explained everything and he was so relieved - he also explained the cause he was so worried about it, the word 'Bloody Mary' would ring in his mind so he would literally replace it with 'Bloody Mongrel' or something silly to get rid of the thought of Bloody Mary. He will now say Bloody Mary, laugh and joke about it - honestly, it completely felt like a weight lifted off his shoulder and we are so grateful. But alas, now he has found something else to worry about. He is scared about supernatural things and he has these supernatural monsters that he again watched a video about ringing in his mind and its upsetting him - he is regularly crying, withdrawn and his concentration is worse than normal - he will literally start day dreaming into the air when we are talking to him about something. It's upsetting and makes me feel hopeless. I want more than anything for him to have a normal life, he doesn't have to be remarkable or do anything amazing, but just a normal life, a job, get married have kids and be happy. But when I see him regress like this, it breaks my heart and honestly makes me depressed because I just want him to be okay - to be normal.
Anyways, my main concern at the moment is that these anxieties keep cropping up and we have tried talking and reassuring and sometimes it works wonders and other times it doesn't. I also want to mention that our father passed away in 2016 and sometimes he gets anxious about losing more of his family/seeing his father again etc. and it is extremely upsetting to see and deal with. There is a theme of anxiety/OCD in my family but I want to stop this getting worse whilst he is still young. Please advise any experiences with medication? I think that would be the best route for him if I am honest but I am also super against psychiatric medication as I don't want it to have side effects or affect his develpoment.
I would love to hear some experiences/opinions/views - this is my first post and I look forward to speaking with you all. Wishing you and your families the best during these crazy times, stay safe.
