In a society that glorifies adolescence as much as ours does, it is hard to remember how difficult the teenage years can be. Issues like teen depression and teen suicide, not to mention teenage pregnancy, can lead many promising young lives down treacherous or even fatal curves. Often, young people are afraid to ask for teen help. They are going through so many changes, both physically and emotionally, but they don't know where to turn to. They are afraid that people will think they are weird or freakish, or that adults won't understand. It isn't a question of there not being enough help for troubled teens out there. There are literally hundreds and hundreds of institutions, from alternative school is to suicide help lines, to drug counseling centers, which can help teens in crisis. The problem is that it is often difficult to get the teen help to people who need it.
As a therapist, one of the most common complaints that I hear from parents is that their teens are impossible to get along with. These young people rebel in every way possible, staying out too late, going around with dangerous friends, taking drugs, or even engaging in risky sexual behavior. What these parents don't understand is that this is the way that their kids ask for teen help. Don't get me wrong – some of it is just fun loving rebellion. Everyone likes to raise a little bit of ruckus when they are young, to test the boundaries and to find what life is about. However, when behaviors start getting serious and self-destructive, it is time for the parents to give some serious thought to whether or not professional help is needed. They owe it to their teenagers.
Ideally, it is important to try to find teen help before it gets this point, but that is not always possible. When things do get bad, there are plenty of options for parents. There are many different alternative schools that they can send their teenagers to, schools that specialize in helping troubled teens. Some of these are military schools while other ones take a more psychiatric and modern approach. Many of them offer teen help for boys specifically, while others are setup for teen girls help they take a different approach to the different genders because boys and girls act out in different ways. The important thing is to make sure to get your kid the help he or she needs. If you delay it too long, it could be too late.
|
