Video Game Addiction in Teenage Boys – When to Seek Treatment
FACT CHECKED
The Nexus Teen Academy editorial and clinical team is dedicated to providing informative and accurate content to help families who are struggling with adolescent behavioral health problems. The editorial team works directly with the clinical team to ensure information is accurate and up-to-date.
To do this, our team uses the following editorial guidelines:
We generally only cite government and peer-reviewed studies
Scientific claims and data are backed by qualified sources
Content is updated to ensure we are citing the most up-to-date data and information
Clinically reviewed by Executive Director Hannah Carr, LPC
Executive Director Hannah Carr, LPC
Hannah graduated from Arizona State University with her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Master’s in Counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona. She began her work as a therapist 12 years ago in South Phoenix with an intensive outpatient program for teens and their families. She joined Nexus in the residential program as the clinical director, eventually being promoted to the executive director, creating and building the clinical program structure and a strong culture focused on redirecting the trajectory of young lives.
The Nexus Teen Academy Editorial Staff is composed of writers, editors, and clinical reviewers with many years of experience writing about mental health and behavioral health treatment. Our team utilizes peer-reviewed, clinical studies from sources like SAMHSA to ensure we provide the most accurate and current information.
Most teenage boys play video games; it’s normal behavior. But somewhere between casual gaming and full-blown addiction, there’s a line. And when your son crosses it, you’ll feel it in your gut long before you can articulate what’s wrong.
This isn’t about demonizing gaming or becoming the parent who “just doesn’t understand.” It’s about recognizing when a hobby morphs into something darker – something that’s stealing your son’s future, one late night at a time.
In this guide,Nexus Teen Academy talks about how to spot the real warning signs of video game addiction and when it’s time to get professional help.
Warning Signs of Video Game Addiction in Teen Boys
Every parent worries they are overreacting. You don’t want to create a problem where there isn’t one.
But here’s the truth: your instincts are probably right.
Behavioral Red Flags
The obsession comes first – and it’s not just the “I really like this game” interest. But the kind of fixation where gaming becomes the only thing he thinks about, talks about, and plans around. He’s mentally playing even when he’s not physically holding the controller.
Watch out for the lies. It’s small at first – he’ll say he played for only an hour when it was actually four. Then it gets bigger: sneaking devices, creating secret accounts, gaming when he’s supposed to be doing homework or sleeping. The deception escalates because the addiction does.
Withdrawal symptoms show up when he can’t play. We’re talking about genuine irritability,teen anxiety, and even rage when you ask him to stop or when the WiFi cuts out.
Physical and Emotional Symptoms
His sleep schedule is ruined. Either he’s gaming until dawn, or his sleep is so disrupted from blue light exposure and overstimulation that he’s essentially sleepwalking through the next day. You’ll see dark circles and hear about him falling asleep in class (if he’s even going).
But it’s the emotional symptoms like mood swings and apathy that can be difficult to deal with.
Academic and Social Consequences
Academic problems are also common, including slipping grades, incomplete homework, and general apathy toward schoolwork.
Socially, he’s vanishing. He’ll tell you he has “friends online,” and sometimes those friendships are real. But if he’s avoiding face-to-face interactions, declining invitations, skipping family dinners to play, there is a problem.
The conflict at home also becomes constant. Every conversation turns into a negotiation or an argument. He resents boundaries, pushes back against any limits, and treats family time like it’s a punishment that’s keeping him from what matters. You start to feel like the enemy in your own home.
Escaping Reality or Underlying Trauma
Gaming offers something irresistible to a hurting teen: complete escape. In the game, he has control, purpose, and an identity that feels powerful instead of powerless. The game doesn’t judge him, expect things he can’t deliver, or remind him of his failures or fears.
This is crucial to understand because if you remove the games without addressing what he’s escaping from or the underlying causes of his video game obsession, you haven’t solved anything. You’ve just removed his only coping mechanism, leaving him drowning with nothing to hold onto.
How Gaming Addiction Affects Teenage Brain Development
Your son’s brain is still under development, and excessive gaming could be negatively affecting this process.
Impacts on Dopamine Regulation
Here’s the science made simple: video games trigger massive dopamine releases – the same neurotransmitter involved in addiction. But while natural rewards (accomplishing something hard, connecting with friends, learning a new skill) give modest, healthy dopamine hits, games are engineered to flood the system.
Level up? Dopamine. Unlock an achievement? Dopamine. Win a match? Massive dopamine.
The teenage brain, still developing impulse control and reward processing, is especially vulnerable to this hijacking. It’s like turning up the volume on the reward system so loud that everything else sounds like a whisper by comparison.
And here’s the devastating part: the brain adapts. It downregulates dopamine receptors to compensate for the constant flood, which means your son needs more gaming to feel the same reward, reducing the impact of natural dopamine releases.
Delayed Emotional Regulation and Coping Skills
The prefrontal cortex – responsible for emotional regulation, impulse control, and long-term planning – doesn’t fully develop until the mid-twenties. It’s the last part to mature.
Excessive gaming during adolescence can essentially put that development on pause. Your son isn’t practicing real-world emotional regulation.
Every hour spent gaming is an hour not spent developing frustration tolerance, emotional resilience, or the ability to sit with discomfort without immediately reaching for an escape.
What you end up with is emotional immaturity – a 16-year-old with the emotional regulation capacity of someone much younger. Your teen son becomes dependent on screen-based rewards to feel okay.
Reduced Executive Functioning
Executive function is built through practice, doing hard things, and pushing through resistance. We are talking about planning, organizing, initiating tasks, managing time, and maintaining focus on boring but essential things.
Gaming, especially the instant-gratification type, doesn’t build these skills. It erodes them.
The neural circuits involved in sustained attention, delayed gratification, and goal-directed behavior need resistance to develop, like muscles need resistance to grow. But games remove most resistance. They are designed to keep your teen son in “flow state,” where challenges perfectly match ability, where feedback is immediate, and where the next goal is always constantly close.
You’ll see it in his inability to start homework without a meltdown, his terrible time management, and his complete lack of planning or follow-through. These aren’t character flaws. They are the neurological consequences of a brain shaped by the wrong kind of stimulation during a critical development window.
When to Seek Professional Help for Gaming Addiction
Early intervention changes trajectories and improves long-term success rates.
Signs It's Time to Intervene
Some warning signs mean you need to address the situation, and others mean you need to seek professional help immediately.
Complete withdrawal from life responsibilities crosses that line. If your son is struggling academically, has stopped bathing regularly, and has stopped leaving his room except to play, this isn’t just a phase. This is crisis territory.
The same goes when boundaries completely fail. When no consequence matters, no punishment works, and no conversation reaches him. When he’s sneak-gaming at 4 a.m. despite having his devices taken away. When the addiction has progressed beyond your ability to manage it at home.
And this one is non-negotiable: any mention ofself-harm, anysuicidal ideation, and any indication he feels life isn’t worth living if he can’t game means it’s time for professional intervention.
Other red flags include: complete emotional flatness (except when gaming), physical health deterioration (significant weight loss or gain, hygiene breakdown), aggressive or violent behavior when interrupted, or using gaming to cope with every single emotion or stressor with no other coping skills in his toolkit.
Why Early Intervention Matters
Here’s what happens when you wait:
The addiction deepens
The neural pathways become more entrenched
The real-world skills gap widens
Secondary problems develop
Depression sets in or worsens
Academic failure becomes academic disaster
Social isolation becomes social phobia
The longer it goes, the harder the climb back. Early intervention, on the other hand, can prevent this cascade. It can catch him before gaming disorder triggers or worsens other mental health issues. It can help him build real coping skills before he’s completely dependent on the digital ones.
How to Start the Conversation Without Shame
The way you approach this conversation can determine whether he opens up or shuts down completely.
First: He’s struggling with a recognized mental health condition that’s hijacked his brain’s reward system. Approach with curiosity, not condemnation.
Try something like: “I’ve noticed you’ve been gaming a lot more lately, and I’m worried – not angry, but genuinely concerned – because I can see it’s affecting your sleep, your grades, your mood. Can we talk about what’s going on?”
Ask open questions:
“What do you get from gaming that you’re not getting elsewhere?”
“Is there stuff happening that makes the games feel necessary?”
“If we put some boundaries around gaming, what would you need from me to make that work?”
Emphasize that you’re not trying to take away his joy or punish him. But you’re trying to help him find balance and address whatever he might be struggling with beneath the surface.
And be honest about seeking help: “I think this is beyond what we can handle on our own, and there’s no shame in that. This is what professionals are for. Let’s figure this out together.”
Treatment Options for Teen Boys with Video Game Addiction
The good news is that gaming addiction is treatable. Your son isn’t broken. He needs support, structure, and evidence-based intervention.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT)teaches emotional regulation skills – distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness – that replace gaming as the go-to coping mechanism.
But here’s the thing about teen treatment that many families miss: this isn’t just your son’s problem. Gaming addiction usually exists within a family system, often addressing (or creating) family dynamics, communication patterns, and unaddressed conflicts.
Teen family therapyhelps everyone understand their role and how to support recovery. It addresses enabling behaviors, teaches parents how to set boundaries effectively, and opens communication channels that may have broken down.
Digital Detox Programs
Short-term intensive programs – usually 2-4 weeks – focus on completely resetting the relationship with screens.
These programs remove access to gaming while teaching new skills: emotional regulation, stress management, social connection, physical activity, and time in nature. The goal is to reset the dopamine system and prove to your son that life without gaming can actually feel good.
Digital detox works best for teens whose addiction hasn’t progressed to severe levels and who don’t have significant co-occurring mental health issues. It’s like a hard reset for the brain and behavior patterns.
Some programs combine wilderness therapy with digital detox – getting boys out into nature, away from all screens, while building confidence through physical challenges and authentic connection with peers and counselors.
Residential Treatment
For severe gaming addiction, especially when co-occurring with depression, anxiety, trauma, or when outpatient treatment hasn’t worked, teen residential treatment provides the comprehensive support your son needs.
At Nexus Teen Academy, we understand that gaming addiction is almost always a symptom of deeper struggles. We address the root causes while building genuine life skills.
Our approach includes:
Individual therapy addressing underlying mental health issues and trauma
Academic support so he doesn’t fall further behind
Emotional regulation training (because most addicted gamers never learned healthy ways to process emotions)
Social skills development and authentic peer connection
Family therapy to heal relationships and prepare for sustainable recovery
Life skills coaching that includes time management, goal-setting, and distress tolerance
From Escape to Empowerment – Nexus Teen Academy Can Help
Your son’s gaming addiction doesn’t define him. It’s not a moral failing or a life sentence. It’s a treatable condition.
With the right support, he can recover into a version of himself that’s stronger, more self-aware, and genuinely connected to his life.
At Nexus Teen Academy, we meet boys exactly where they are. We get it. We’ve walked this path with countless families who felt hopeless, exhausted, and out of options.
You’re not alone in this, and neither is your son. If you’re ready to take the next step toward healing and balance, let’s discuss how we can help your family regain its balance. Just hit thecontact usbutton!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What qualifies as video game addiction in teenagers?
Video game addiction is diagnosed when gaming significantly impairs multiple areas of life – academic, social, and emotional – for an extended period (typically 12 months). It's characterized by loss of control over gaming, prioritizing gaming over other activities and responsibilities, and continuing to game despite negative consequences.
How much gaming is too much for a teen boy?
A teen gaming 3 hours on weekends while maintaining grades, friendships, sleep, and family connections is different from a teen gaming 3 hours daily while everything else falls apart. Watch for the impact, not just the hours.
Can video game addiction cause mental health issues?
It's complicated. Gaming addiction can definitely worsen or trigger mental health issues like depression and anxiety, especially because of sleep deprivation, social isolation, and the dopamine dysregulation we discussed. However, it's often a bidirectional relationship. Existing mental health struggles drive kids toward excessive gaming as a coping mechanism, which then makes the mental health issues worse. That's why treatment needs to address both the gaming and the underlying conditions simultaneously.
Are boys more likely to be addicted to gaming than girls?
Yes, significantly. While gaming participation is fairly even between genders, 94% of gaming addicts are male and only 6% are female. Research suggests this is partly neurological – male brains show stronger reward activation during gaming – and partly social. Boys face more pressure to suppress emotions and have fewer socially acceptable outlets for connection and vulnerability, making gaming a more compelling escape and coping mechanism.
How long does recovery from gaming addiction take?
Recovery isn't linear, and timelines vary based on severity and individual factors. Initial treatment (residential) typically lasts 60-90 days, but that's just the beginning. Most teens need continued outpatient support for 6-12 months after intensive treatment. Full recovery, where your son has a healthy relationship with technology and strong life skills? That can take 1-2 years. But you'll see progress much sooner – within weeks, most parents notice their son starting to "come back" emotionally and socially.
Executive Director Hannah Carr, LPC and nexus_admin
Video Game Addiction in Teenage Boys – When to Seek Treatment
FACT CHECKED
The Nexus Teen Academy editorial and clinical team is dedicated to providing informative and accurate content to help families who are struggling with adolescent behavioral health problems. The editorial team works directly with the clinical team to ensure information is accurate and up-to-date.
To do this, our team uses the following editorial guidelines:
Clinically reviewed by Executive Director Hannah Carr, LPC
Executive Director Hannah Carr, LPC
Hannah graduated from Arizona State University with her Bachelor’s in Psychology and Master’s in Counseling and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Arizona. She began her work as a therapist 12 years ago in South Phoenix with an intensive outpatient program for teens and their families. She joined Nexus in the residential program as the clinical director, eventually being promoted to the executive director, creating and building the clinical program structure and a strong culture focused on redirecting the trajectory of young lives.
Published By Nexus Teen Academy
Nexus Teen Academy
The Nexus Teen Academy Editorial Staff is composed of writers, editors, and clinical reviewers with many years of experience writing about mental health and behavioral health treatment. Our team utilizes peer-reviewed, clinical studies from sources like SAMHSA to ensure we provide the most accurate and current information.
Published On November 21, 2025
Table of Contents
Most teenage boys play video games; it’s normal behavior. But somewhere between casual gaming and full-blown addiction, there’s a line. And when your son crosses it, you’ll feel it in your gut long before you can articulate what’s wrong.
This isn’t about demonizing gaming or becoming the parent who “just doesn’t understand.” It’s about recognizing when a hobby morphs into something darker – something that’s stealing your son’s future, one late night at a time.
In this guide, Nexus Teen Academy talks about how to spot the real warning signs of video game addiction and when it’s time to get professional help.
Warning Signs of Video Game Addiction in Teen Boys
Every parent worries they are overreacting. You don’t want to create a problem where there isn’t one.
But here’s the truth: your instincts are probably right.
Behavioral Red Flags
The obsession comes first – and it’s not just the “I really like this game” interest. But the kind of fixation where gaming becomes the only thing he thinks about, talks about, and plans around. He’s mentally playing even when he’s not physically holding the controller.
Watch out for the lies. It’s small at first – he’ll say he played for only an hour when it was actually four. Then it gets bigger: sneaking devices, creating secret accounts, gaming when he’s supposed to be doing homework or sleeping. The deception escalates because the addiction does.
Withdrawal symptoms show up when he can’t play. We’re talking about genuine irritability, teen anxiety, and even rage when you ask him to stop or when the WiFi cuts out.
Physical and Emotional Symptoms
His sleep schedule is ruined. Either he’s gaming until dawn, or his sleep is so disrupted from blue light exposure and overstimulation that he’s essentially sleepwalking through the next day. You’ll see dark circles and hear about him falling asleep in class (if he’s even going).
But it’s the emotional symptoms like mood swings and apathy that can be difficult to deal with.
Academic and Social Consequences
Academic problems are also common, including slipping grades, incomplete homework, and general apathy toward schoolwork.
Socially, he’s vanishing. He’ll tell you he has “friends online,” and sometimes those friendships are real. But if he’s avoiding face-to-face interactions, declining invitations, skipping family dinners to play, there is a problem.
The conflict at home also becomes constant. Every conversation turns into a negotiation or an argument. He resents boundaries, pushes back against any limits, and treats family time like it’s a punishment that’s keeping him from what matters. You start to feel like the enemy in your own home.
Escaping Reality or Underlying Trauma
Gaming offers something irresistible to a hurting teen: complete escape. In the game, he has control, purpose, and an identity that feels powerful instead of powerless. The game doesn’t judge him, expect things he can’t deliver, or remind him of his failures or fears.
This is crucial to understand because if you remove the games without addressing what he’s escaping from or the underlying causes of his video game obsession, you haven’t solved anything. You’ve just removed his only coping mechanism, leaving him drowning with nothing to hold onto.
How Gaming Addiction Affects Teenage Brain Development
Your son’s brain is still under development, and excessive gaming could be negatively affecting this process.
Impacts on Dopamine Regulation
Here’s the science made simple: video games trigger massive dopamine releases – the same neurotransmitter involved in addiction. But while natural rewards (accomplishing something hard, connecting with friends, learning a new skill) give modest, healthy dopamine hits, games are engineered to flood the system.
Level up? Dopamine. Unlock an achievement? Dopamine. Win a match? Massive dopamine.
The teenage brain, still developing impulse control and reward processing, is especially vulnerable to this hijacking. It’s like turning up the volume on the reward system so loud that everything else sounds like a whisper by comparison.
And here’s the devastating part: the brain adapts. It downregulates dopamine receptors to compensate for the constant flood, which means your son needs more gaming to feel the same reward, reducing the impact of natural dopamine releases.
Delayed Emotional Regulation and Coping Skills
The prefrontal cortex – responsible for emotional regulation, impulse control, and long-term planning – doesn’t fully develop until the mid-twenties. It’s the last part to mature.
Excessive gaming during adolescence can essentially put that development on pause. Your son isn’t practicing real-world emotional regulation.
Every hour spent gaming is an hour not spent developing frustration tolerance, emotional resilience, or the ability to sit with discomfort without immediately reaching for an escape.
What you end up with is emotional immaturity – a 16-year-old with the emotional regulation capacity of someone much younger. Your teen son becomes dependent on screen-based rewards to feel okay.
Reduced Executive Functioning
Executive function is built through practice, doing hard things, and pushing through resistance. We are talking about planning, organizing, initiating tasks, managing time, and maintaining focus on boring but essential things.
Gaming, especially the instant-gratification type, doesn’t build these skills. It erodes them.
The neural circuits involved in sustained attention, delayed gratification, and goal-directed behavior need resistance to develop, like muscles need resistance to grow. But games remove most resistance. They are designed to keep your teen son in “flow state,” where challenges perfectly match ability, where feedback is immediate, and where the next goal is always constantly close.
You’ll see it in his inability to start homework without a meltdown, his terrible time management, and his complete lack of planning or follow-through. These aren’t character flaws. They are the neurological consequences of a brain shaped by the wrong kind of stimulation during a critical development window.
When to Seek Professional Help for Gaming Addiction
Early intervention changes trajectories and improves long-term success rates.
Signs It's Time to Intervene
Some warning signs mean you need to address the situation, and others mean you need to seek professional help immediately.
Complete withdrawal from life responsibilities crosses that line. If your son is struggling academically, has stopped bathing regularly, and has stopped leaving his room except to play, this isn’t just a phase. This is crisis territory.
The same goes when boundaries completely fail. When no consequence matters, no punishment works, and no conversation reaches him. When he’s sneak-gaming at 4 a.m. despite having his devices taken away. When the addiction has progressed beyond your ability to manage it at home.
And this one is non-negotiable: any mention of self-harm, any suicidal ideation, and any indication he feels life isn’t worth living if he can’t game means it’s time for professional intervention.
Other red flags include: complete emotional flatness (except when gaming), physical health deterioration (significant weight loss or gain, hygiene breakdown), aggressive or violent behavior when interrupted, or using gaming to cope with every single emotion or stressor with no other coping skills in his toolkit.
Why Early Intervention Matters
Here’s what happens when you wait:
The longer it goes, the harder the climb back. Early intervention, on the other hand, can prevent this cascade. It can catch him before gaming disorder triggers or worsens other mental health issues. It can help him build real coping skills before he’s completely dependent on the digital ones.
How to Start the Conversation Without Shame
The way you approach this conversation can determine whether he opens up or shuts down completely.
First: He’s struggling with a recognized mental health condition that’s hijacked his brain’s reward system. Approach with curiosity, not condemnation.
Try something like: “I’ve noticed you’ve been gaming a lot more lately, and I’m worried – not angry, but genuinely concerned – because I can see it’s affecting your sleep, your grades, your mood. Can we talk about what’s going on?”
Ask open questions:
Emphasize that you’re not trying to take away his joy or punish him. But you’re trying to help him find balance and address whatever he might be struggling with beneath the surface.
And be honest about seeking help: “I think this is beyond what we can handle on our own, and there’s no shame in that. This is what professionals are for. Let’s figure this out together.”
Treatment Options for Teen Boys with Video Game Addiction
The good news is that gaming addiction is treatable. Your son isn’t broken. He needs support, structure, and evidence-based intervention.
Outpatient Therapy and Family Counseling
For many teens, outpatient therapy is the right starting place. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps identify the thought patterns and triggers that drive compulsive gaming, then builds healthier responses.
Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) teaches emotional regulation skills – distress tolerance, mindfulness, and interpersonal effectiveness – that replace gaming as the go-to coping mechanism.
But here’s the thing about teen treatment that many families miss: this isn’t just your son’s problem. Gaming addiction usually exists within a family system, often addressing (or creating) family dynamics, communication patterns, and unaddressed conflicts.
Teen family therapy helps everyone understand their role and how to support recovery. It addresses enabling behaviors, teaches parents how to set boundaries effectively, and opens communication channels that may have broken down.
Digital Detox Programs
Short-term intensive programs – usually 2-4 weeks – focus on completely resetting the relationship with screens.
These programs remove access to gaming while teaching new skills: emotional regulation, stress management, social connection, physical activity, and time in nature. The goal is to reset the dopamine system and prove to your son that life without gaming can actually feel good.
Digital detox works best for teens whose addiction hasn’t progressed to severe levels and who don’t have significant co-occurring mental health issues. It’s like a hard reset for the brain and behavior patterns.
Some programs combine wilderness therapy with digital detox – getting boys out into nature, away from all screens, while building confidence through physical challenges and authentic connection with peers and counselors.
Residential Treatment
For severe gaming addiction, especially when co-occurring with depression, anxiety, trauma, or when outpatient treatment hasn’t worked, teen residential treatment provides the comprehensive support your son needs.
At Nexus Teen Academy, we understand that gaming addiction is almost always a symptom of deeper struggles. We address the root causes while building genuine life skills.
Our approach includes:
From Escape to Empowerment – Nexus Teen Academy Can Help
Your son’s gaming addiction doesn’t define him. It’s not a moral failing or a life sentence. It’s a treatable condition.
With the right support, he can recover into a version of himself that’s stronger, more self-aware, and genuinely connected to his life.
At Nexus Teen Academy, we meet boys exactly where they are. We get it. We’ve walked this path with countless families who felt hopeless, exhausted, and out of options.
You’re not alone in this, and neither is your son. If you’re ready to take the next step toward healing and balance, let’s discuss how we can help your family regain its balance. Just hit the contact us button!
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Video game addiction is diagnosed when gaming significantly impairs multiple areas of life – academic, social, and emotional – for an extended period (typically 12 months). It's characterized by loss of control over gaming, prioritizing gaming over other activities and responsibilities, and continuing to game despite negative consequences.
A teen gaming 3 hours on weekends while maintaining grades, friendships, sleep, and family connections is different from a teen gaming 3 hours daily while everything else falls apart. Watch for the impact, not just the hours.
It's complicated. Gaming addiction can definitely worsen or trigger mental health issues like depression and anxiety, especially because of sleep deprivation, social isolation, and the dopamine dysregulation we discussed. However, it's often a bidirectional relationship. Existing mental health struggles drive kids toward excessive gaming as a coping mechanism, which then makes the mental health issues worse. That's why treatment needs to address both the gaming and the underlying conditions simultaneously.
Yes, significantly. While gaming participation is fairly even between genders, 94% of gaming addicts are male and only 6% are female. Research suggests this is partly neurological – male brains show stronger reward activation during gaming – and partly social. Boys face more pressure to suppress emotions and have fewer socially acceptable outlets for connection and vulnerability, making gaming a more compelling escape and coping mechanism.
Recovery isn't linear, and timelines vary based on severity and individual factors. Initial treatment (residential) typically lasts 60-90 days, but that's just the beginning. Most teens need continued outpatient support for 6-12 months after intensive treatment. Full recovery, where your son has a healthy relationship with technology and strong life skills? That can take 1-2 years. But you'll see progress much sooner – within weeks, most parents notice their son starting to "come back" emotionally and socially.