Teen Depression Suicide – Are You the Parent of a Troubled Teen?

All parents will tell you that the teenage years are trying. But the parent of a truly troubled teen faces a special challenge. Even the best behaved child can experience growing pains and sometimes these growing pains become serious issues that involve depression × Depression
Depression /de·pres·sion/ Depression is defined as a mental condition characterized by feelings of severe despondency and dejection, typically also with feelings of inadequacy and guilt, often accompanied by lack of energy and disturbance of appetite and sleep. Statistics has shown that diagnosis of depression is growing at a very dangerous rate. Globally, depression affects over 350 million people of all ages. Depression has been linked to other negative health outcomes, such as obesity, heart disease, and stroke. Compared to those not affected by depression those who face it are more likely to be unemployed and have a higher chance of divorce. Most people that suffer from depression do not seek care or attention. Since this is a global issue, many efforts are made to help those who are suffering depression. It is important for those that face depression to find help so that they can overcome this plague that millions of people face.
, the potential for suicide, sexual promiscuity, and violence, problems with the law or other significant problems.

As a parent, you must address these issues before they become obstacles that a teenager and/or…All parents will tell you that the teenage years are trying. But the parent of a truly troubled teen faces a special challenge. Even the best behaved child can experience growing pains and sometimes these growing pains become serious issues that involve depression, the potential for suicide, sexual promiscuity, and violence, problems with the law or other significant problems. 

As a parent, you must address these issues before they become obstacles that a teenager and/or parent cannot overcome obstacles that present life long challenges to your teenage child. Here are some of the issues you may face: 

Dropping Out of School ?

if your child has threatened to drop out, or has already dropped out of high school, you face a significant dilemma. As a parent, you know that your child can?t go far in life without a high school diploma (at the very least). If your child has not yet dropped out, you have an advantage, but you must act quickly. 

Find an alternative program, either through your own school system or through private schools that offer experiential training (outside the classroom) designed to meet state academic requirements in a non-traditional environment × Environment
n.noun en·vi·ron·ment The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines environment as the surroundings or conditions in which a person, animal, or plant lives or operates. A person's environment, or social surroundings, have an enormous impact on the way that person thinks and operates. If a person is surrounded by negativity, he/she is more likely to replicate that negativity and display negative behaviors in other areas of life. The environment of a troubled teen can often be the root cause or factor in the troubled adolescent's negative behavior. When an impressionable teenage boy or girl is surrounded by negative peers, it is common for these teens to develop negative behaviors themselves. It is for this reason that parents should be aware of their child's social surroundings and environmental influences. If a teenage boy or girl is troubled, a total change in their environment may be in order. By replacing a troubled teen's negative environment with that of a therapeutic, nurturing and rehabilitative environment, troubled adolescents are able to emotional, therapeutic and behavioral restoration.
. If your child has already dropped out, you may want to give them a few months to adjust. Insist that they get a job to earn money and wait for them to figure it out if they can. Then have them go back to school or look into getting a GED (a high school equivalency degree) so that they can go on to college if they choose.

Using Drugs or Abuse × Abuse
Abuse /a·buse/ Abuse is defined as the improper usage or treatment of an entity, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices: crimes or other types of aggression. Abuse is a negative and real threat that many people face. Child abuse is a problem that is continually occurring. The main types of child abuse are physical abuse, sexual abuse, and neglecting. When these types of abuse occur in a home, they often go unnoticed. The stress and fear of the abuse will usually cause the victim to remain quite about the problem. It is a difficult problem to find out and assess, but there are solutions. It is important that people are aware of signs of abuse. They may include unexplained injuries, changes in behavior, fear of going home, changes in eating and sleeping and lack of personal care or hygiene.
of Alcohol × Alcohol
al·co·hol n.noun a colorless volatile flammable liquid that is the intoxicating constituent of wine, beer, spirits, and other drinks, and is also used as an industrial solvent and as fuel. When ingested, alcohol can be a deadly intoxicant. Teens and adults alike are more prone to make fateful and negative choices while drinking alcohol. A deadly intoxicant, alcohol has destroyed and ripped apart the lives of millions and yet, remains to be the drug of choice of troubled teens nationwide. Teenage minds are not yet able to fully appreciate the dangers that coincide with drinking. When drunk, teenagers commit and act out heinous activities which they would normally never commit or act out. Teenage pregnancy, driving under the influence, fighting and other consequences are more likely to occur while teens drink. Parents of teenage boys or girls who drink occasionally or struggle with the addiction of alcohol, need to seek immediate treatment for their son or daughter.
?  

If you need to take your child off track to get them back on track, look into boot camps × Boot camps
The Merriam- Webster dictionary provided the following definitions for boot camps: A military training camp for new recruits, with strict discipline. a prison for youthful offenders, run on military lines." a short, intensive, and rigorous course of training." Boot camps are also utilized by parents of troubled teens. These boot camps, or brat camps as they are sometimes known as, offer the strict discipline and intense physical training that traditional boot camps offer. When referring to the treatment of troubled teens, boot camps have recently become an a treatment option for parents to consider. Boot camps are often times utilized by parents of teens who display out of control behaviors and are desperate for assistance in treating their child's abnormal, negative behaviors. The overall effectiveness of these types of treatment programs have been heavily scrutinized by therapeutic and mental health professionals. Boot camps are generally considered as a "quick fix," and offer little or no long lasting changes.
, and off site residence programs that will expose your child to other authority figures and other kids in crisis. They will get a real education on life and have a chance to think through their behavior without the influence of the friends or environment that may have caused them to go astray. 

You can find programs like Teen Options, RedCliff, the Thayer Learning Center, Aspen Ranch and other residence programs with your online search engine. OR, you may wish to look into standard military or boarding school options to get your child away from his current circle of friends, membership in a gang, or other environmental influences. 

Eating Disorders, Depression and Sexual Manifestations ?

Experimentation is normal for teenagers, but if your child has a true eating disorder × Eating Disorder
Eating disorders /eat·ing/ /dis·or·der/ The definition of an eating disorder as any a wide variety of psychological disorders involving characteristics or habits related to irregular eating patterns. Eating disorders usually arise from a negative or distorted self-image and are serious emotional and physical issues that involve extreme emotions, attitudes, and behaviors surrounding weight and food issues. Types of eating disorders include those such as Anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorders, etc. There are many signs that can help signify an eating disorder. Signs may include: a refusal to eat/denial of hunger, an intense fear of gaining weight, a negative or distorted self- image, excessive exercise, a flat mood or lack of emotion. It is important recognize symptoms or possible signs of eating disorders in yourself or other individuals. If you find someone that is struggling with an eating disorder, there are many types of way that you can help. Specialists are trained to help with eating disorders because they may dangerous but they are curable.
or is showing signs of depression, or getting into real trouble with sexual experimentation, you need to take action.

Any and all of these behaviors are usually symptomatic of low self-esteem or other emotional issues that must be resolved. Find a good therapist or doctor who specializes in teenager therapy × Therapy
n.noun ther·a·py Therapy is a treatment intended to relieve or heal a disorder or disease. Therapy generally consists of two kinds: medical and psychotherapy. Medical therapies treat diseases of the human body such as cancer. Psychotherapies treat the mind of therapeutically or emotionally damaged individuals. Different Types of Psychotherapy: - Psychoanalytic Therapy - Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy - Group Therapy - Behavior modification - Biofeedback - Collaborative therapy - Family therapy - Marriage counseling - Music therapy - Parent management training - Relationship counseling - Social Therapy - Systemic therapy - Therapeutic community - Twelve-step programs - Wilderness therapy Therapy for troubled teens has become an increasingly popular opportunity for troubled adolescents today. Therapies are offered at many services for troubled teens such as, wilderness therapy programs, residential treatment programs and boarding schools for troubled youth. The most effective type of therapy greatly depends on the individual teen and what psychological and emotional issues the particular adolescent struggles with.
and get your child enrolled. Be sure your child understands that this is not punishment and that you do not consider your child to be crazy, but rather that you want them to have another, more objective person to talk to about their feelings and to work out what is happening in their life.

Try to choose a doctor who will not just medicate your child into oblivion but rather will help your child work through their issues to become a healthy adult. If your child is sexually promiscuous and you cannot alter this behavior right away, be sure your child is using protection to avoid pregnancy and/or sexually transmitted diseases. 

Navigating the Legal System

If your child has been arrested or gotten in trouble with the law, you need to WAKE UP NOW! Some minor infractions are easily handled, and juvenile records are sealed in most states up to a certain age (state laws vary) so you may think ?no harm, no foul?. But you would be wrong.

Take this as a sign that there will likely be more problems, if you do not stop the cycle now. And, if your child ends up in jail, the influence of others who are incarcerated in the correctional system is not likely to produce a healthy, well adjusted adult. The first thing you need to do is to get yourself a really good attorney, one who works with teenagers and one who will help you, not just by keeping your child out of jail, but by scaring your child so they will not push the limits even further.

The second thing you have to do is to stop looking at the police and juvenile court system as the enemy. It is their job to protect your child and the public, but they are not there to produce more criminals. These people will be more cooperative and sympathetic to YOU if you aren’t defensive or combative and IF you ask for their help and suggestions. 

If you, as a parent, have to pay for damage done by your child, be sure you make your child get a job and pay these expenses. This is part of the accountability they must learn. And, while you should empathize with your child and help them express their feelings, you should NOT sympathize with them or protect them.

Let them know that their behavior is unacceptable and that they must now be responsible for that behavior, whether that means that their drivers license is suspended, or that they have to do community service, or something more profound like serving time in a juvenile institution. In some jurisdictions, juvenile offenders may be required to make restitution for monetary damages.

Sometimes parents actually balk at this! According to Juvenile Justice experts, children must earn this money themselves and repay their debts themselves. They need to learn that there are consequences × Consequences
n. noun con·se·quences The Merriam- Webster dictionary provides the following definitions for consequences: 1.the effect, result, or outcome of something occurring earlier: The accident was the consequence of reckless driving. 2.an act or instance of following something as an effect, result, or outcome. Consequences is a prevalent issue in the life of a troubled teen. Troubled adolescents who suffer from negative consequences, do so because of their poor decision making. Whatever choice a teenage boy or girl decides to make, a consequence of that decision will soon follow. If a teen chooses to make productive choices in life, he/she will reap the benefits of positive consequences. However, if a teen makes poor choices such as, abuse drugs and alcohol, skipping class, hanging out with the wrong crowd or disobeying parents and authority, that teen will reap negative consequences. Negative consequences such as, legal troubles, being grounded from parents, or getting kicked out of school due to inactivity or rebelliousness, are all viable and likely negative consequences a teen will experience if he or she is making poor choices.
for their actions, particularly for their anti-social actions. If your child is released based on certain conditions like family therapy or drug counseling × Counseling
coun·sel·ing The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines counseling as the provision of assistance and guidance in resolving personal, social, or psychological problems and difficulties, especially by a professional. Counseling can come in many different forms. These forms include, but are not limited to, child development, eating disorder, substance abuse, rehabilitation, mental health and educational counseling. The type of counseling needed for an individual depends on the type of issues or problems he/she happens to be facing. Counseling Troubled Youth Counseling offers hope to all kinds of troubled youth. Teens who struggle with personality disorders, emotional trauma, psychological disorders and/or learning disabilities, are all great candidates for counseling. These types of teens are often times, in desperate need for some type of counseling, and if some form of counseling is not achieved, are at high risk of fateful, dire consequences. These consequences may include drug addiction, imprisonment, or in some cases, even death.
, be sure this happens. Don’t let it slide. You MUST address this now or your child may be in real trouble within 5-10 years. As you tighten the reins on your troubled teen, remember that you are the role model.

Always treat your child and your family with respect and demand the same from each of them. Do not tolerate broken curfews, swearing, coming home drunk, or whatever other behaviors your teenager displays that are unacceptable. Sit your child down and let them know that they matter to you and that you love them and ask them to try to talk to you OR to a counselor or therapist.

Let them know that their feelings matter and that you understand they are going through a tough time. BUT, you must also let them know that you expect them to behave in a socially responsible way. Give them confidence that they can adjust and improve their life.