[quote=DocJohn;965022]Welcome to a safe place to talk about antisocial personality disorder:

Hello,
My almost-16 year old son shows signs of APD. He has been hopitalized numerous times since he was 7, hurting animals, children, me, his siblings.
He recently had residential treatment ( 1 year) and has been out for a year... The problem is that the doctors don't seem to want to diagnose APD, they are only at Conduct Disorder at this point. Even as a young child he figured out how to behave for a few days of initial examination in these hospitals, and they would send him home saying " we just don't see the aggression, and we can't always just go on your word!"
I am so frustrated!! He knows how to sweet talk his way out of treatment- as if he does nothing wrong, and my 8 and 3 year old son's are in danger. He is in treatment now( under observation for a few days after threatening to harm me and his brothers) yet, they are sending him home due to him not acting out in that hospital!!!!
Is there any more specific place he can go? He is my son, but he is a danger to my other small boys and the police and hospitals feel that he has to attack and harm the boys again before they can help- a threat is not enough and I cannot remove him from my home, even if he is a teenager- they prefer to risk him killing my 3 year old to get even with me trying to hospitalize him again, but failing. He thinks he is untouchable, and nothing he does can have consequences--no hospital can hold him, because he's too smart and cunning-- that's what he has proven.
I live in Indiana, and am at my wits end. If he was an only child, keeping him at home and outpatient therapy would be tolerable, because it would only be my safety I'd worry about, but there are small children involved and my husband ( his stepdad) is ready to move the little one's away to protect them because my son ALWAYS returns to the house. My son's father has the same symptoms of APD, only he was never diagnosed. We are divorced over his cheating and violent temper.
Any advice? Get a better doctor? don't teenagers with the disorder pose a threat if they are violent when they choose? I am open to a personal email too, because I will probably lose my family and job over this (calling off work for his behaviors and husband moving the kids away from me- because my son will be my responsability for another 2 years!)

Thanks,
Donna