Dallas woman found her son tearing off drywall with his fingernails and teeth: ‘Feral is the only word I can use to describe it’

Annie Willems (@mom.behind.the.scenes) from Dallas, Texas, recalled the mental health breakdown of her then-fifteen-year-old son. Despite the family’s best efforts to help him, she alleged that he didn’t receive the appropriate mental health care needed for his condition.

“I’m sitting in the bedroom that used to be my 19-year-old son’s room,” she told TikTok. Willems said that every time she was in the room, memories of her son’s breakdown would replay in her mind. Beyond his bedroom door, the other family rooms, kitchen, and living room would be right up ahead.

In April 2023, Willems and her husband were out in the kitchen. Then, she started hearing loud scratching noises coming from her son’s bedroom. The couple rushed to his room but couldn’t open his door. Willems explained that the door opens inward, and their son was on the other side, pushing outward. Despite wanting to escape, Willems said their son couldn’t open the door.

“He was tearing off drywall with his fingernails and his teeth,” Willems alleged. The doorframe was also scratched up. Their son was allegedly desperate to get out, and Willems claimed that he was even reaching from below the door. He wasn’t experiencing anything paranormal, unlike these two friends who decided to mess with an Ouija board. She and her husband knew they had to get him out of the way. Eventually, they freed their son, and Willems said he wasn’t speaking.

“His shirt and his shorts were literally in shreds because he had ripped them apart,” Willems said. While distressed, Willems claimed he was making chirping sounds and grinding his teeth. His eyes were also darting all over the place. She continued, “Feral is the only word I could use to describe it.” Even though she and her husband were present, their son acted distant.

What was happening to her son?

“He had already had a ten-day psych stay. At that point, we had so many services involved,” Willems disclosed. Despite having experts come in, they allegedly denied that her son was experiencing psychosis or schizophrenia. “Nobody seemed to know what was going on,” Willems claimed. To make matters worse, their son couldn’t communicate coherently with them.

But Willems said this wasn’t the last time their son was unable to speak after a breakdown. At another time, he could write his thoughts. Willems got him a pen and paper, hoping to communicate. She alleged, “And in the shakiest of writing, he wrote, ‘Stuck underwater.’ Apparently, in his mind, he was underwater; he couldn’t breathe; he was alone; he was scared, stuck there.” It’s not a place that even this skilled lifeguard, who saved a boy from drowning at a community pool, could reach. Willems said that for his son, getting out of his room that fateful day was like trying to escape the water in his mind.

Willems alleged that her family had to deal with a lot without help. She believes that her son should’ve been an inpatient and that he should’ve received the appropriate mental health care. She commented, “It was so scary, for him and for us. I know that he was scared.” Although she maintains that she loves his son, Willems disclosed that he’s no longer with them. Her son is currently not in contact with her due to the alleged abuse of his sister.

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