Hi Lisa,

I first want to praise you for being such an attentive mother. Well done to you. I also want to talk to you a bit about depression and the places it leads us to. Below are some warning signs for suicide. I put these here because you mention your sons depression as worsening.
Appearing depressed or sad most of the time.
(Untreated depression is the number one cause for suicide.)

Talking or writing about death or suicide.
Withdrawing from family and friends.
Feeling hopeless.
Feeling helpless.
Feeling strong anger or rage.
Feeling trapped -- like there is no way out of a situation.
Experiencing dramatic mood changes.
Abusing drugs or alcohol.
Exhibiting a change in personality.
Acting impulsively.
Losing interest in most activities.
Performing poorly at work or in school.
Giving away prized possessions.
Writing a will.
Feeling excessive guilt or shame.
Acting recklessly.

I also work on a suicide hotline and wanted to talk to you about how to approach your son with the ever so difficult question of "are you thinking about killing yourself?" It's a question that you need to ask to get a sense of where he is at. If he says yes, start asking close ended questions like Do you have a plan? When were you thinking of doing this? Have you considered things like who will find your body? or What death by (whatever means) looks like? For example when you overdose you often defecate on yourself and vomit, it doesn't look nice. Ask NO FEELING questions. If your son asnwers no I'm not thinking of suicide then that is when you ask the feeling questions. Start with open ended questions like Tell me about your depression, how does it make you feel? Allow him to express himself and when he does paraphrase back to him what you are hearing. So if he says depression makes me feel lonely and isolated and sad, you would say I hear that you're very lonely and sad, tell me more about that.

If you don't feel comfortable having this conversation with your son you can always give him the number to the local suicide prevention line or the national number

For immediate help call Lifeline’s 24 hour telephone counselling line on 13 11 14

People there will often be able to de-escalate the situation and help the person move through the crisis.

I hope this has helped.

All my love and more,
Tara