A Dangerous Son Page #7

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That's all

they were waiting for.

Woman:
Okay, first,

close your eyes and take

a couple deep breaths...

while I get

this other paper out.

(clatters)

So throughout

this whole thing,

don't forget

to breathe, okay?

(inhales sharply)

(soft flute music playing)

Clench your fists.

Real tight!

(exhales)

And hold it

for 10 seconds.

Nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four,

three, two, one.

Tense the muscles

around your forehead

by raising your eyebrows

as far as you can.

Just like that.

And hold it.

Hold it right there,

real tight.

Don't forget to breath.

10, nine, eight--

Thomas:
The problem

that we face most of all

is that we're still in love

with the magic bullet.

We still think

there's gonna be a pill

or there's gonna be

a psychotherapy

or there's gonna

be a critical insight.

If somebody says

the right thing

to the right person

at the right time,

they're gonna be well.

That works great

in Hollywood.

Doesn't actually work

that well in real life.

These are

really complicated problems.

It takes time,

but it also takes

a lot of different

converging kinds

of interventions,

and that could include

medicine, education,

skill building, what we call

cognitive retraining.

That's what you

need for recovery.

It's not going to be simple.

Ethan (on phone): Hello?

Stacy (on phone):

Hi, Ethan.

Ethan:
Mom?

Stacy:
Hi, Baby.

I miss you.

Ethan:

Hey, Mom.

How is your day going?

Stacy:

It's going good.

How's your day going?

Ethan:

Oh, my day...

Some parts were bad,

and some parts were good.

Stacy:

Are you working

on your behaviors?

(man speaks

indistinctly)

Ethan:

Some parts, yeah.

Stacy:
Do you think

you're, like, learning

to try to not get so angry

or control that

a little bit more?

Ethan:

Well, kind of.

May I say hi to Elexa?

Stacy:

Oh, honey, you could

say hi to Elexa,

but Elexa's

outside playing.

Okay, well,

I love you, baby. Mwah!

Ethan:

Mwah!

Bye, Mom. I love you.

Stacy:
Bye, baby.

I love you too.

Hey, why don't you tell me

how your therapy's going

with Wendy.

What do you mean?

Good.

I haven't really talked

to you about it.

So, what do you

like about her?

She's nice.

That's good.

What do you guys do?

Play a board game.

You play board games?

And we talk.

What do you talk about?

My diary, Mommy.

I can't tell you.

No. Okay, when I said

that she's like your diary,

I meant

that she can't tell me

what you talk about.

That doesn't mean

you can't tell me

if you wanted to tell me.

I can't tell you

what I said to her.

Well, you can tell me

if you want to tell me.

Well, I don't want

to tell you.

Nothing? Not anything?

Do you feel

like you cannot talk

to me about stuff?

Yeah.

Why?

Because you always

say comments about it.

No, I don't.

Mm-hmm.

What I mean is...

I hope you don't feel

you can't tell me things,

'cause you can.

I do.

Can you explain

to me why you...

want to take medicine

and think it's so cool?

'Cause everyone else does.

Who's everyone?

All my friends.

Ethan takes medicine

every day because it

helps him calm down.

Then can I do that?

No, because you don't need

that kind of help.

Well, I can't

calm down sometimes.

Yeah, all people get

angry and sad and hyper.

Mad.

And mad.

Well, that's angry.

Because of their mother?

I'm kidding.

(giggles)

It kind of feels like

they favor him over me.

But I know that they kind

of have to...

put a lot of time and effort

into dealing with him.

Sometimes, like,

I would want them to, like--

I would-- for example,

like, show them...

something I did at school,

like homework

or a project or something,

but it... kind of would be

like they were always busy,

had something with William,

busy with William,

just always something

with him. Always.

Edie:

I think she needs

a lot more attention

than a typical person her age.

It's really important

that we give it to her,

or it's really upsetting

to her, you know?

Like, "Watch me do this,

and watch me do that."

And he gets special treatment.

You know,

he doesn't get grounded

like she gets grounded.

The rules are different,

and I think that's the one

thing she resents,

is that the rules

are different for him

than they are her,

and they have to be.

Stacy:

"Answer."

Elexa:

A-N-S-W-E-R.

"State."

Elexa:

S-T-A-T-E.

"Several."

Elexa:

I know this one.

S-E-V-E-R-A-L.

I'm excited he's coming home,

and I'm kind of worried

that he's gonna...

be bad still.

Like... he's gonna yell

and stuff and hit me.

(sighs)

I did get the door replaced.

It was broke...

hole on the side,

and I did fix the hole

in the wall that he made,

so he had punched

a hole in the wall,

and I did get that fixed.

So, yeah, I tried

to make it look nice

and clean and new again

as much as I could for him

when he came home,

and I hope that he doesn't

re-destroy anything

after all the work

I've put in and the money

I'm spending, but...

you know,

I wanted him

to, hopefully--

I wanted to have

kind of a fresh start

and a clean start--

a clean slate

so to speak, so.

This is really sad.

Now that I have

to fold all these clothes,

I can absolutely see,

in these past six months just

how much weight I've put on.

I don't think any

of these fit me anymore.

I think it was...

the feeling of... you know,

having six months

of thinking you needed

to start marking things

off your bucket list.

To like feel like that

because your son

is away from home

is something else.

Ethan:

I'm going home today.

(rock music plays)

I've heard

this song before.

(laughs)

Yeah, turn it up, please.

Turn it up?

A little bit, okay?

Yes, I like this song.

Do you?

I miss this song.

(laughs)

(vocalizing music)

Baby, baby,

ooh, baby, baby

(laughs)

Ooh, baby, baby

Baby, baby

Ooh, baby, baby,

b-b-baby, baby

Can you do this?

Oh! (vocalizes music)

(laughs)

Make a film

Hi.

Hey.

Stacy:

Your hair's all wet.

Yeah, I spiked it.

Can I have a hug?

Someone spiked it for me.

Do I get a hug? Hi.

Yeah.

Are you okay?

No, I'm okay. I'm...

I thought you'd be

excited to be home.

No, no, I am.

Stacy:

Can you read

that for me?

(paper rustles)

"Home expectations.

"I will listen to adults.

"I will respect everyone

and their property,

"and will not take things

without asking permission.

"I will always be safe.

I will keep my hands

to myself.

"I will use my inside voice.

When I get upset,

I will ask for a break."

Stacy:

I need you to try

to remember these rules...

and your coping skills.

Are you looking at me?

Can I have a kiss?

I missed you.

Can you believe

you're home?

Are you staying overnight?

Mm-hmm!

I'm staying forever.

(laughs)

I hope so.

My God, how much gel

did you use? The bottle?

(bird chirping)

Edie:

William's been home

about two months,

and at the beginning

he was doing great,

and he was happy and...

really controlling

his behavior.

We had some

set up structure

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