Dec
14

Welcome to Helpfortroubledteens.com

Helpfortroubledteens.com is a free site with Information, Resources, Support for Parents, and Professionals with Troubled Teens.
Jan
04

The character of a person is shown through his or her personality — by the way an individual thinks, feels, and behaves.  When the behavior is inflexible, maladaptive, and antisocial, then that individual is diagnosed with a personality disorder. 

Most personality disorders begin as problems in personal development and character which peak during adolescence and then are defined as personality disorders. 

Personality disorders are not illnesses in a strict sense as they do not disrupt emotional, intellectual, or perceptual functioning.  However, those with personality disorders suffer a life that is not positive, proactive, or fulfilling.  Not surprisingly, personality disorders are also  associated with failures to reach potential.

Read more…

Dec
17

Many teens experience a time when keeping up with school work is difficult.  These periods may last several weeks and may include social problems as well as a slide in academic performance.

Research suggests that problems are more likely to occur during a transitional year, such as moving from elementary to middle school, or middle school to high school.

Read more…

Nov
08

The Habit of Identity

In a famous experiment, students were asked to take a lemon home and to get used to it.  Three days later, they were able to single out “their” lemon from a pile of rather similar ones.  They seemed to have bonded. 

 

Is this the true meaning of love, bonding, coupling?

Do we simply get used to other human beings, pets, or objects?

Read more…

Oct
03

Outdoor Programs
 Summer Camps, Wilderness Programs, Adventure Therapy
 

There is a wide variety of outdoor programs including environmental education, conservation education, adventure education, wilderness therapy, adventure therapy, camping, and outdoor recreation. 
 
 There are nonprofit and for-profit outdoor programs, religious camps, programs run by national organizations, private camps, day camps, camps that run weekend sessions, residential programs that run for the entire summer, or long-term residential camps that offer wilderness camping and adventure as therapy. Read more…

Oct
03

SIMPLY LISTEN Helping Others Cope With Grief

SIMPLY LISTEN

Helping Others Cope With Grief

 

It’s part of life.  Someone special died today.  Someone’s father or mother, husband or wife, son or daughter.  A family, a lifetime of memories and a lot of pain are left behind.  And, for the survivors, the pain is just beginning.  Working through that pain and sadness is often a long and grueling process called mourning.

 

Almost everyone worries about what to say to the survivors.  You don’t want to hurt their feelings or upset them.  But more important than knowing what to say is knowing how to listen.  You cannot take away the pain that friends or co-workers are suffering from the loss of a loved one, but you can listen to their stories.  Storytelling is a very common and effective way for the grieving person to keep the memory of a loved one alive.  The biggest fear for someone in mourning is that those around them will forget the loved one now that they are gone. Read more…

Oct
03

Friends, Peer Influence & Peer Relationships

Your Teen’s Friends

Peer Influence & Peer Relationships

Teens want to be with people their own age — their peers.  During adolescence, teens spend more time with their peers and without parental supervision.  With peers, teens can be both connected and independent, as they break away from their parents’ images of them and develop identities of their own.

 

While many families help teens in feeling proud and confident of their unique traits, backgrounds, and abilities, peers are often more accepting of the feelings, thoughts, and actions associated with the teen’s search for self-identity.  Read more…

Oct
03

Emotional Health

What Should I Know About My Teenager’s Emotional Health?

 

The teenage years are a time of transition from childhood into adulthood.  Teens often struggle with being dependent on their parents while having a strong desire to be independent.  Ideally, they are maturing from the one-sided self-centeredness of childhood to a self-identity that balances responsible self-interest with care and love for others.

Read more…

Sep
22

Alcohol and Teen Drinking

A child who reaches age 21 without

smoking, abusing alcohol or using drugs

is virtually certain never to do so.

- Joseph A. Califano, Jr., Chairman and President,

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University

 

Alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence are not only adult problems they also affect a significant number of adolescents and young adults between the ages of 12 and 20, even though drinking under the age of 21 is illegal.

Read more…

Sep
22

ADD/ADHD and School

ADD/ADHD and School

There are so many concerns surrounding the diagnosis and treatment of ADD/ADHD that parents must be knowledgeable and cautious.  It is usually the school that approaches parents to have an assessment for ADD/ADHD and parents often feel pressured in having the traditional drug treatment to ‘correct’ their child’s behavior.

Read more…