Worried about Marcus

Just a quick note- I have been really worried about my 9 year old boy. He has always had kind of a rough time emotionally due to the Autism Spectrum Disorder- but over the years he has matured and usually can handle himself fairly well. We have also grown and learned as parents. Since our move to the Detroit area, he has been struggling again. Mostly it is emotionally- and it has gotten worse this last month. Almost every day he says "I have a bad life" and that he isn't happy. The littlest of things makes him angry or frustrated and he is super sensitive. He has moments where he seems happy, but then later he will tell me "I am never happy, and even when I act happy, I'm really not" Even at his class Christmas party, which I helped at, during which all the other kids were having a blast, he seemed somber and made his gingerbread ornament man with a frowny face. His teacher and friends at school have also expressed their concerns to me. I can only hear this so many times before it really gets to me- my heart breaks every time, actually. I feel like I am trying so hard but I think we need some extra help. Counseling, anti depressants - - what should we do? Depression and emotional instability does run in our family a little. I worry about the effect on the other family members- Cynthia and Lillian sometimes feel like he hates them (he gets super annoyed by them- which I am hearing is pretty normal for a 9 year old), and has said some really horrible things to Jon (which I won't repeat). I do have to say that Marcus does want to do what is right. I can see him making an effort to be nice, and then other times he is just too irritable. After a talk with him about a specific really hurtful thing he said to Jon, he apologized to Jon saying that he didn't mean it, and that he loves him, and Jon also showed how much he loves and cares for Marcus. They shared a special moment and things seemed to get a little better between them. Our trip to Columbus for Christmas was also wonderful- I hadn't seen him that consistently happy for a long time. My heart sank, though, as we drove home and a tangible cloud settled over him. I asked what was the matter and he said- "I don't want to talk about it- it is too heavy". He wouldn't say another word. Sometimes I can talk him out of the deep gloom if I just let him talk about his ideas for stories (he is a good writer), his favorite video games or books or other 9 year old interests. Since I am a "talker" too- I love to just talk and talk with him, because I see the happy side of him (or at least the non- gloomy side of him). I sure do love that boy, through all the ups and downs.

So- I am working on figuring out what is the best course of action- he is so young! Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas? I know that he turns into a person that isn't really him when he is having his bad moments. I can see through to the "True" Marcus- a child who wants to do what is right, and one that knows how much his family loves him.

The girls just adore him when he does things like this: