The British schoolboy trapped in Abu Dhabi after developing a fear of flying is still in the Gulf state a year after The Mail on Sunday highlighted his plight.
Joe Thompson, now 12, had been due to fly back to Britain with his family last June after his father Tony’s work contract in the UAE ended. He tried four times to board a plane with his family, but each time he broke down in tears and refused to fly.
He subsequently refused to travel home by boat and overland. Now, a year later, Joe remains stranded 4,500 miles from home with his father while his worsening mental condition continues to baffle psychiatrists.
The situation has reached an expensive impasse for Mr Thompson, 63, who risks bankruptcy as he tries to reconcile his son’s condition with his responsibility to his distraught wife Pauline, 49, and daughter Chloe, 17, who are back at the family home in Weston-super-Mare.
Mr Thompson, a former aide to John Prescott, has pleaded for help to rescue his young son after spending his savings and borrowing £40,000 to fund their unexpected extended stay in Abu Dhabi.
He now fears he might be forced to sell their home in Britain.
Joe has been diagnosed with Severe Anxiety Disorder and Flight Phobia, but Mr Thompson thinks his son’s problems go far deeper.
He said: ‘The hypnotherapists and behavioural therapists he has seen said this is not all about flying. There’s something blocking him in the UK. He now needs some kind of medical intervention to prise open the secret.’
In the past year Joe has also been prescribed the anti-depressants Zoloft and Cipralex but he still refuses to return home and fills his time playing rugby, seeing friends, watching TV and going to the mall to surf Facebook.
Mr Thompson said: ‘I’ve tried all the tactics to encourage Joe. When I’ve no money left, I will sit on the British Embassy steps and say, “Here are our passports, we need help.” ’
The situation has put a huge strain on Mr Thompson’s marriage. ‘It’s difficult because I don’t see Pauline,’ he said.
‘But it’s no different to somebody in the military being sent away. We’re still talking. We realise we have an end objective to get Joe home. It’s like a project we’re working on. The biggest strain is a financial one.’
Mr Thompson said he needed £3,000 a month to stay in Abu Dhabi. He and Joe have moved into a small, two-bedroom flat in Al Ain, after staying with friends who took pity on them.
Mr Thompson said: ‘It’s not as if Joe’s living a life of luxury. There’s no swimming pool or internet access. It’s so different to the six-bedroom villa we had when I came out here to work as quality manager at a private hospital.
‘It’s amazing a year has gone by. My concern is, where will this all end?’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z2X0Fl92BZ
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Sounds like a job for my team
Sounds like a job for my team
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
Playing armchair psychiatrist for a moment, it sounds like something incredibly traumatic happened to him at home before they left for the UAE, that he does not want to go back and face. Sexual abuse? Severe bullying? Or something he has done and now fears the consequences?
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
Could be, the father certainly hints at that.
“If you trust in yourself, and believe in your dreams, and follow your star. . . you'll still get beaten by people who spent their time working hard and learning things and weren't so lazy.”
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
I think Scooter's on to something here...
Obviously something more than a sudden onset of fear of flying, especially since he won't go by boat either....
Obviously something more than a sudden onset of fear of flying, especially since he won't go by boat either....
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
Sedate him and fly him home. Problem solved.
Treat Gaza like Carthage.
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
Sure, until he wakes up and goes completely psychotic. Do you enjoy torturing small animals as well?
"Hang on while I log in to the James Webb telescope to search the known universe for who the fuck asked you." -- James Fell
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
They need to hire The A-Team. 3/4 of them would know how to deal with this... 
Why is it that when Miley Cyrus gets naked and licks a hammer it's 'art' and 'edgy' but when I do it I'm 'drunk' and 'banned from the hardware store'?
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
Milk?
Okay... There's all kinds of things wrong with what you just said.
Re: Sounds like a job for my team
Sean wrote:They need to hire The A-Team. 3/4 of them would know how to deal with this...
Ha! I had the same thought.