The Descendant

Beside me, Deri clapped her hand soundlessly over her mouth at the blunt speech. "Look, Daniel, Diana, I don't question that you love your daughter and want the best for her. It's just that you need some help is being effective parents, and I can help you to discover ways to do that. There are no sides here, or there shouldn't be. Both you and Lys have valid points of view, and she needs to see yours as much as you need to see hers. But she's got some problems that you don't. You are one family, and that cohesiveness can be built. To assist you, let's talk about depression in teens, anxiety, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

"Depression for teenagers seems to come and go in episodes, and it may be that she's genetically inclined to it, for the reasons we've already discussed. Once a teen has an episode, he or she is much more likely to have more, and untreated depression can be dangerous or deadly. Symptoms vary, but are generally seen in personality and behavioral changes, such as sleeping more, apathy, withdrawing and spending time alone in their rooms, changes in eating habits, possible criminal behavior, fatigue, sadness, hopelessness, difficulty concentrating or making decisions, rebellious or irresponsible behavior that could include alcohol or drug use or promiscuous sexual activity, withdrawal from friends, drops in grades. Obviously there are complicating factors here; her ankle and the broken bones in her face cause fatigue and the need to sleep more, she doesn't really have friends, so it's difficult to know if she'd be withdrawing from them."

"She does spend a lot of time in her room," Mom said.

"But it's difficult to know if that's a function of her depression. That gift you said she has, from Hestia, is that right? Her room is wonderful. I'd stay put in there if I could. The determining factor there is if this is a new behavior."

"No, she and Deri have always spend a lot of time in their rooms," Dad said.

"So there's this problem, and it's compounded by the possibility of an anxiety disorder. I don't feel like she's all the way there, but I think that she does have some symptoms. I don't feel like she's got suicidal or homicidal tendencies, so there's that, and it's a real bright side. We'll talk about anxiety shortly, I want to finish up depression first. Parenting teens is tough, as you know. Once a serious condition like depression is introduced, the difficulty increases sharply, and you're already a little handicapped by your parenting practices. So here are some guidelines I'd like you to work on.

"When you have to discipline Lys, don't use shame or punishment. Instead, use positive reinforcement for good behavior. Shame and punishment could exacerbate her feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy. You have to allow her to make mistakes and learn from them. Being overprotective can be interpreted as a lack of faith in her abilities, so give her breathing room and the space to make her own choices. You can't just come out of the blue and start making demands on her that have been absent to now. She's not going to appreciate them or your motivations. You have to provide an atmosphere where she feels comfortable confiding in you. And if or when she does, you must take the time to really listen to her concerns. Even if the problem seems superficial to you, you must remember that it probably feels very real to her, otherwise it wouldn't be bothering her. She's got a good head on her shoulders, so encourage her to keep using it. You have to keep trying to get through to her even if she doesn't seem receptive. Don't tell her what to do to resolve a problem; listen to what she's saying, and you might find out more information about the underlying causes of the problems. Lys has a large family; you might encourage her to seek help from those she feels closes to. Keep in mind that Lys may have already written you off, feeling that she can't rely on you for help. If you want to prove her wrong, you've got a steep slope ahead that will be discouraging for you and her both.

"So that's depression. Anxiety is less of a concern here, and I'd be worried if she starts having panic attacks. These are characterized by intense feelings of fear and include symptoms like sweating or chills, rapid or pounding heartbeat, shaking, trembling, nausea, chest pain, a feeling of dissociation or unreal-ness, going crazy, things like that. I feel that this is something that could develop if Lys dosn't get help, but I don't think she's getting them now. It is a situation you need to watch out for.

"PTSD is a type of anxiety disorder that is a real possibility here. It's typically triggered by a traumatic event such as violence, a car accident, a natural disaster. A botched kidnapping attempt. Symptoms can include flashbacks, emotional detachment, low self-esteem, jumpiness, other things, and can make working and maintaining relationships very difficult. Traumatic experiences have a very real effect on people, such as feeling detached from everyday life, having trouble sleeping, suffering nightmares or flashbacks. Over the course of a few weeks, these symptoms usually go away. When they don't -- or if they re-emerge -- a person is said to have PTSD. About one in three people with PTSD develop a long-lasting form of the disorder. It disrupts daily life, by making it hard to do your job and complicates relationships with family and friends. It often leads to divorce and parenting problems. Because the kidnapping attempt happened when all four of you were together, you are all at risk, not just Lys and Deri, and you need to monitor yourselves as well.

"I don't know if Lys is experiencing these symptoms because she is not open to discussing them. However, I can confidently diagnose the depression and my treatment recommendations include medication and cognitive therapy. Because I do therapy with the League and pro bono work with some of the victims we help, I've taken advantage of state laws and am certified to prescribe medication in all states in this nation and to practice psychotherapy. You do not have to engage me to work with Lys, you can find anybody you want. What this means is that I can write a prescription for her today. It is, however, her decision about whether to take the medication. I do want to stress that I certainly think that Lys can get through this just fine and that you are not terrible parents. Your part in this is to realize that your kids aren't in the same circumstances you were while growing up and that new strategies are needed. You need to be more observant and provide more guidance and validation. This is completely within your capabilities."

"So how would this all work?" Dad asked, and I eased the door closed, carefully rearranged the things on the shelf, and Deri and I left silently, not talking until we'd made it back upstairs. "Can I come in?" she asked when we got to our doors.

"Ok," I said. She closed the door behind her as I crutched over to the chairs.

"So did you know that Grandma Alex is Valkyrie?" she demanded as she flopped down into the other chair.

"No," I said. "I feel like I should have, but I didn't." She grunted.

"So, that was... extra," she said. "And when did you find that... whatever it is? I can't believe you didn't tell me."

"It's a door," I explained. "I just found it a few days ago. And if you use it, you have to be sure to put everything in front of it precisely back into place so that we're not tipping off Alan that we know. You really can't see it behind the bookshelves unless you know exactly where to look."

"So..." Deri said, looking at me through her lashes. "Do you feel depressed or anxious or whatever?"

"Mostly what I feel is pissed," I said, debating about how much to tell Deri. She'd tell our parents what I said if she thought they needed to know, or Dr Lance. But suddenly I wanted to tell her. "It turns out that Uncle Tony didn't just make a cute AI for my pod, he listens to the recordings it makes of me talking to it and tells the parents. And all of a sudden they're worried about my mental health? That's rich. They bring in Dr Lance, who feels like she has the right to go burrowing into my life, such as it is. I'm just pissed. They've had sixteen years to treat me like more than an afterthought." I shrugged. "But what Dr Lance said will take a lot of effort on their part, and I don't think they're up to it. They'll try for awhile, figure it's good enough, the status quo will resume."

"Will you leave, like Dr Lance said?" Deri asked softly.

"Well, I have to get some additional education beyond high school, I'm definitely not going to be a drain on my trust fund," I said, shrugging again. "But you'll be taking over the business, which means that I'll find something else to do."

"Does that bother you?"

"No, because I don't want it." And I didn't want Deri to feel that I resented her for being her. I did sometimes, but that was my problem. She was pretty awesome when she wasn't being irritating, and I didn't want her to feel like she needed to change for me to love her. It did bother me that I didn't have the attraction to the family business, any of it, or the capability of running it. Literally everybody else did. But every time I tried to picture myself in the big office, or even in one of the nice corner offices, dressed in a beautiful suit, dealing with spreadsheets and whatnot, powerful and in control, what I saw was Deri.

Deri struggled with what to say next, but ultimately gave up and went back to her room. I went over to the window seat and opened one of the windows, cuddling up under the throw. More than ever, I missed my spot on the roof. This was the best I could do for now, and I leaned out the window to see a few stars.

The next morning I ate my breakfast, put on a coat, and headed out the back, navigating the path down to the gazebo with care. I'd brought my cameras with me, and took some photographs while I was there. I'd been too worried about whether the other kids would want to know where I'd shot my landscapes, but they didn't care. So as long as I didn't photograph the manor, which had been shown in a few articles about Dad and/or the family, I'd be fine. There were a lot of eye-catching places on the estate, and there was that pretty, furry frost on everything, something I loved.

I looked over with irritation to see Dr Lance coming down the path, interrupting the review I was doing of my images, but I thought I'd better stay and get the conversation over with. For one, she could outrun me. Second, I'd have to listen sooner or later. "Hi, Lys," she said. "Can I sit down?"

I wanted to say no, but there wasn't a reason to be rude and make her job more difficult. I nodded and she sat on the steps next to me. "I wanted to tell you my conclusions from our talk yesterday." How nice that she was finally going to tell me. It would have been nice to be the first to hear her diagnosis, seeing as how it's about me. "You're clinically depressed," she said bluntly. "Some of that's most likely to do with the traumas of the past year, some of it's probably biological. Some of it might just be being a teenager. But in any case, I have a prescription here, Prozac-12. It's the twelfth formulation of a very old and stable medication for depression. It will take about a week to build enough in your brain to have a steady and therapeutic effect. There's a slight risk of allergic reaction, literally one in a million. How it works is that it massages the neurotransmitters in the brain. Depression is caused by an imbalance in the normally tightly-controlled process of secretion and removal of neurotransmitters like serotonin. This form of the medication helps the brain figure out how to better control the neurotransmitters without side effects like weight gain, and in a gentler formulation. You shouldn't even feel it working. It'll gently get the balance of your brain chemistry back into order. That's a short-term solution that addresses the physical nature of depression.

"The other prong of your treatment should be therapy to help you address problem areas in your life. Cognitive therapy would by my recommendation. This approach proposes that most problems have several parts that a person can subdivide the problem into. Those parts include how the person perceives the problem, the person's thoughts and emotions about the problem, the physical feelings at the time, and the person's actions before, during, and after the problem occurs. People disassemble to problem into these parts in order to make the problem more manageable. You work on it in therapy, you get homework, and this teaches you how to apply these tools to everyday problems. It gives you more control over situations that come up, how you respond, and how to choose the best course of action. This type of therapy compliments the medication, can help prevent relapses into depression, and reduces the residual symptoms of depression not helped by the medication, such as feelings of helplessness. It helps to improve sleep, helps with mood, energy, and pain." She gave me time to think about that. "So what do you think?"

"I think I'd be stupid to pass it up," I said.

"But what's under that response, Lys?" she asked. "I have the feeling that you say these innocuous things but there's a huge mass of thoughts and feelings underneath, like a subterranean lake. So what do you think besides saying that you'd be stupid to pass up the drug and behavioral therapies?"

"Resentment, mostly," I said, deciding to trust her. A little. She was perceptive; she was the only one who'd really caught on to this tactic. "It took an accident for my parents to see that I'm struggling. They knew before, but they just passed it off as teenage angst, ungrateful child, I don't know and don't much care."

"That's valid," she said. "And that's why I think that cognitive therapy will be most beneficial to you. It will help you cope when people aren't giving you the help you need, help you find ways to help yourself, because nobody is ever capable of giving somebody everything they need. We all have to fulfill our needs ourselves. I think that will be very appealing to you."

"It is," I admitted cautiously. She handed me a pill vial.

"One pill a day, and don't stop taking it when you feel better. You'll still need to be tapered off it when it's time, and your doctor and I should monitor you. As for the therapy, you can look for someone local--I can provide you a list--or we can work together remotely, the way I do with Deri. I would like to work with you, and I have experience treating children in the superhero community as well as trauma victims, but the important thing is that you feel comfortable with your choice. My approach is that once a person decides to get help, I expect them to do the work that they need to. Doing the work doesn't produce the results in a linear manner, you put x effort in and get the same quantity of result each time. Sometimes it's a huge amount of work and you don't see the payoff for awhile. Then you can put in a little effort and get a huge reward. It can be hugely frustrating and upsetting and there's no doubt that it's hard work, but the payoff is worth it. As long as you work and are making progress, that's what I want to see and what is most helpful to you. I'm not going to coddle you. You have a fine mind and I have expectations for you, but I will hold your hand and help you along. You're going to be doing the work; I serve as a guide and someone to help you through the rough patches, and you need to be able to trust me.

"And confidentiality is something we also have to discuss. I believe that you're quite suspicious of this whole setup and wonder what I'd be telling your parents about what we talk about in therapy. The answer to that is not much. I would inform them immediately if I felt that you had suicidal or homicidal tendencies, but the content of our sessions is confidential. There would need to be some family sessions, both for you and Deri, that involve your parents and issues that come up, but we would talk about the topics beforehand, to decide the information I can share. I don't do any form of ambush therapy or confrontation. Your parents have their own work to do on their behavior, and we'd need to make sure that you four as a family are progressing. Honestly, I feel that you're not far from turning your back on the whole monolith that is the Wayne family and business because it's not working for you, you don't feel really a part of it. It's much more beneficial to have a family for the support and love they offer, so I would like to see you be fully integrated. Your parents do love you very much, they're just not the most ept parents I've ever seen." I snorted agreement.

"Well, your parents didn't have normal upbringings. Your mom is a couple thousand years old, from a time and place when there was no popular culture, consumerism, even male parents. There were no other kids around, so her experience with peer pressure is extremely limited. She functions fine in this time period, but the experiences she draws upon are worlds and ages away from yours, and her experience with her mother is also quite different than yours." I had to nod. The queen was a whole experience in her own right. "And your dad is marked by that dualism of serving as his father's Robin, before becoming Batman himself, then being able to retire from that and focus on the business. He is so accustomed to making sure everything looks good for other people that he forgets to check on what's underneath. He doesn't really remember his mom, who died in childbirth when he was quite young, so he's not really sure of how parents in a team relate to their kids, and subconsciously, he doesn't really know what do as a father if he's not echoing his father and training a Robin. And although he had his Aunt Amy, there wasn't that same parental dynamic. So there are logical reasons for their deficiencies, and they'll be working on those themselves, as I've said. But your concern is just to work on yourself, to help you work through your problems and reach your full potential without bitterness and vindictiveness. What your future holds is largely up to you."

So we talked a bit more before I agreed to work with her remotely, then she left me to my photography. The air was warming, the light rime of frost on the colorful leaves had melted, and I got to work on both detail and landscapes. I didn't want to admit it, but I was feeling a little buoyed by the promise of help. Even more important was that she didn't dismiss my reactions and concerns, so maybe she was right and I could have more control over my life than I thought possible without leaving.

She went back home on Sunday, but before that, we had a couple of sessions to get the process started, and she helped me work on my expectations for potential friends. I didn't tell her about the supervillain relatives of the school group aspect--I didn't trust anybody that much--but I felt supported in my reactions and what I wanted and expected from these people. She'd been right when she told my parents that I craved validation. It felt enormously empowering to not be told that I was overreacting, that my feelings were valid, and she even commended my logic when I explained why I was upset with their sneaking. But it was hard to acknowledge my emotions, to put them out for someone else to inspect, and I could foresee times when the therapy could get really gruesome, but at the same time, I felt motivated to do the work. A spark of hope that life didn't have to feel this shitty all the time.