Teens in Crisis and the Importance of Family Therapy

ADHD

Attention Deficit Disorder is a chronic condition by which it’s afflicted are continually inattentive, hyperactive, and occasionally impulsive. ADHD starts in childhood and often lingers into adulthood. As many as 2 out of every 3 children affected by ADHD continue to have symptoms well into adulthood. This includes inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity – which are the key behaviors of those with ADHD.

Crisis Management

Often characterized by a mental breakdown, crisis management is dealing with extreme situations in an effective manner. People who suffer from this are typically incapable of thinking of practical solutions and will negate the issue at hand. The patient suffering from crisis management tends to need help very early on in the process. This means reaching out to family/friends and contacting a doctor or mental health provider.

Grief & Loss

After loss, some individuals have a difficult time returning to their lives before and require special attention and help. The grieving process is very individualized; there is no actual timetable for it to end. Grief encompasses shock and disbelief, sadness, guilt, anger, and fear.

Stress Management

Dealing with stress and stressful situation with calm, level-headed intentions and charisma. Physical symptoms of stress range from low energy and headaches to chest pain and dry mouth. If left unchecked, ongoing stress can cause serious health issues including depression, cardiovascular disease, obesity, sexual dysfunction, and gastrointestinal problems.

Substance Use Disorders

Abuse, consistent use, or addiction characterizes the plight of substance use disorders. The substance could be interfering with the person’s personal or professional life or even life-threatening. Common Substance Use disorders include Alcohol Use Disorder, Tobacco Use Disorder, and Cannabis Use Disorder. Regardless of the substance, many of the same behaviors are prevalent and require the same course of treatment.

Anger Management

Anger management is dealing with the inability to cope with stressful situations, controlling one’s anger, attitude, and ability to deal with situations productively and responsibly under calm duress. Suppressed anger can also be an underlying cause of anxiety and depression. Doctors suggest deep breathing and positive self-talk as the first steps in helping manage anger.

Chronic Pain Issues

People with issues resulting from medicating chronic pain issues require specialized healing that can come in numerous forms and must be discovered individually with guidance from a trained professional. Chronic pain is often defined as any pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. Whereas acute pain is a normal sensation that alerts us to possible injury, chronic pain is very different. Chronic pain persists—often for months and sometimes even longer and may be complicated by issues associated with prescription medication.

Impulse Control Disorders

Controlling feelings or actions that are immediate and often reactionary. These individuals need assistance in finding new psychology in dealing with their intense immediacy and needs.  Scientists are still researching the cause of these types of disorders but many think that there are a good handful of factors including physical or biological, psychological or emotional, and cultural or societal issues.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Caused from a moment or moments of extremely stressful situations, environments, and individuals. This disorder can cause the afflicted to avoid people, places, or activities in fear and completely disrupt their personal and professional lives. Not every traumatized person develops ongoing (chronic) or even short-term (acute) PTSD. Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event. Some experiences, like the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, can also cause PTSD.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders marked by feelings of anxiety or loathing. Anxiety is a worry about the future and loathing is a reaction to current happenings. These feelings could manifest in physical forms, such as a faster heart rate or trembling. Disorders in this category include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Sleep Disorders.

Mood Disorders

Mood disorders refer to a plethora of swinging, bipolar, or mood control disorders. These disorders often ruin relationships and take control of the individual’s free will. About 20% of the U.S. population reports at least one depressive symptom in a given month, and 12% report two or more in a year. Depression is a common feature of mental illness, whatever its nature and origin. People are more easily demoralized by depression and slower to recover if they are withdrawn and unreasonably self-critical or irritable, impulsive, and hypersensitive to loss.

Relational Trauma

Trauma is caused by a personal experience with another individual. Often characterized by mental, verbal, and physical abuse inflicted on the sufferer.  Women experience remarkably high rates of relational trauma including child abuse and neglect and intimate partner violence (IPV) during adulthood, and the childbearing years are no exception.

Personality Disorders

Personality disorders are disorders in which a person may forget who they are or become another person they think they are. It causes major disruptions in their daily lives and relationships. Symptoms of each personality disorder differ and can be either mild or severe. People with personality disorders often have trouble identifying that they have a problem; they believe their thoughts are normal and that it is other people who are to blame. Treatment usually includes talk therapy and sometimes medicine.

Body Image Issues

Body image issues are when an individual sees themselves in an extremely negative light. It could stem from mental and verbal abuse from any age and typically attacks the psyche by focusing on what the sufferer perceives as a flaw.  Researchers have noted that people with body image issues or disordered eating have difficulties with visual processing.

Family Issues

Issues pertaining to family are treated with the help of clinicians who know how to break down communication barriers in relationships in order to fix the problems at hand. Conflicts are a part of family life. A lot of different issues, such as Parenting Issues can lead to conflict, including illness, disability, addiction, job loss, school problems, and marital issues. Listening to one another and actively working to resolve conflicts are key to reinforcing the family.

Relationship Issues

Problems between loved ones typically stemming from communication breakdowns and the inability to compromise or change to make the other person happy. These issues can arise from a couple spending too little – or even too much – time together. They can stem from fighting over the same issues, from insecurities over your future to feeling misunderstood. Money is also a common root of relationship issues.

Sexual Disorders

Sexual disorders are involving sex, perversion, or acts that have nothing to do with sex in the standard definition but have been fetishized and cause a disruption in the individual or society’s regular agenda. Psychotherapy is a common treatment for desire disorders. Treatment focuses on bringing awareness to any unresolved conflicts and how they impact the patient’s life. While improvement is possible, the sexual dysfunction often becomes autonomous and persists, requiring additional techniques. Various hormones have also been studied for the treatment of sexual desire disorders.

ADHD

Attention Deficit Disorder is a chronic condition by which it’s afflicted are continually inattentive, hyperactive, and occasionally impulsive. ADHD starts in childhood and often lingers into adulthood. As many as 2 out of every 3 children affected by ADHD continue to have symptoms well into adulthood. This includes inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity – which are the key behaviors of those with ADHD.

Crisis Management

Often characterized by a mental breakdown, crisis management is dealing with extreme situations in an effective manner. People who suffer from this are typically incapable of thinking of practical solutions and will negate the issue at hand. The patient suffering from crisis management tends to need help very early on in the process. This means reaching out to family/friends and contacting a doctor or mental health provider.

Grief & Loss

After loss, some individuals have a difficult time returning to their lives before and require special attention and help. The grieving process is very individualized; there is no actual timetable for it to end. Grief encompasses shock and disbelief, sadness, guilt, anger, and fear.

Stress Management

Dealing with stress and stressful situation with calm, level-headed intentions and charisma. Physical symptoms of stress range from low energy and headaches to chest pain and dry mouth. If left unchecked, ongoing stress can cause serious health issues including depression, cardiovascular disease, obesity, sexual dysfunction, and gastrointestinal problems.

Substance Use Disorders

Abuse, consistent use, or addiction characterizes the plight of substance use disorders. The substance could be interfering with the person’s personal or professional life or even life-threatening. Common Substance Use disorders include Alcohol Use Disorder, Tobacco Use Disorder, and Cannabis Use Disorder. Regardless of the substance, many of the same behaviors are prevalent and require the same course of treatment.

Anger Management

Anger management is dealing with the inability to cope with stressful situations, controlling one’s anger, attitude, and ability to deal with situations productively and responsibly under calm duress. Suppressed anger can also be an underlying cause of anxiety and depression. Doctors suggest deep breathing and positive self-talk as the first steps in helping manage anger.

Chronic Pain Issues

People with issues resulting from medicating chronic pain issues require specialized healing that can come in numerous forms and must be discovered individually with guidance from a trained professional. Chronic pain is often defined as any pain that lasts longer than 12 weeks. Whereas acute pain is a normal sensation that alerts us to possible injury, chronic pain is very different. Chronic pain persists—often for months and sometimes even longer and may be complicated by issues associated with prescription medication.

Impulse Control Disorders

Controlling feelings or actions that are immediate and often reactionary. These individuals need assistance in finding new psychology in dealing with their intense immediacy and needs.  Scientists are still researching the cause of these types of disorders but many think that there are a good handful of factors including physical or biological, psychological or emotional, and cultural or societal issues.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Caused from a moment or moments of extremely stressful situations, environments, and individuals. This disorder can cause the afflicted to avoid people, places, or activities in fear and completely disrupt their personal and professional lives. Not every traumatized person develops ongoing (chronic) or even short-term (acute) PTSD. Not everyone with PTSD has been through a dangerous event. Some experiences, like the sudden, unexpected death of a loved one, can also cause PTSD.

Anxiety Disorders

Anxiety disorders are a cluster of mental disorders marked by feelings of anxiety or loathing. Anxiety is a worry about the future and loathing is a reaction to current happenings. These feelings could manifest in physical forms, such as a faster heart rate or trembling. Disorders in this category include Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Social Anxiety Disorder, and Sleep Disorders.

Mood Disorders

Mood disorders refer to a plethora of swinging, bipolar, or mood control disorders. These disorders often ruin relationships and take control of the individual’s free will. About 20% of the U.S. population reports at least one depressive symptom in a given month, and 12% report two or more in a year. Depression is a common feature of mental illness, whatever its nature and origin. People are more easily demoralized by depression and slower to recover if they are withdrawn and unreasonably self-critical or irritable, impulsive, and hypersensitive to loss.

Relational Trauma

Trauma is caused by a personal experience with another individual. Often characterized by mental, verbal, and physical abuse inflicted on the sufferer.  Women experience remarkably high rates of relational trauma including child abuse and neglect and intimate partner violence (IPV) during adulthood, and the childbearing years are no exception.

Personality Disorders

Personality disorders are disorders in which a person may forget who they are or become another person they think they are. It causes major disruptions in their daily lives and relationships. Symptoms of each personality disorder differ and can be either mild or severe. People with personality disorders often have trouble identifying that they have a problem; they believe their thoughts are normal and that it is other people who are to blame. Treatment usually includes talk therapy and sometimes medicine.

Body Image Issues

Body image issues are when an individual sees themselves in an extremely negative light. It could stem from mental and verbal abuse from any age and typically attacks the psyche by focusing on what the sufferer perceives as a flaw.  Researchers have noted that people with body image issues or disordered eating have difficulties with visual processing.

Family Issues

Issues pertaining to family are treated with the help of clinicians who know how to break down communication barriers in relationships in order to fix the problems at hand. Conflicts are a part of family life. A lot of different issues, such as Parenting Issues can lead to conflict, including illness, disability, addiction, job loss, school problems, and marital issues. Listening to one another and actively working to resolve conflicts are key to reinforcing the family.

Relationship Issues

Problems between loved ones typically stemming from communication breakdowns and the inability to compromise or change to make the other person happy. These issues can arise from a couple spending too little – or even too much – time together. They can stem from fighting over the same issues, from insecurities over your future to feeling misunderstood. Money is also a common root of relationship issues.

Sexual Disorders

Sexual disorders are involving sex, perversion, or acts that have nothing to do with sex in the standard definition but have been fetishized and cause a disruption in the individual or society’s regular agenda. Psychotherapy is a common treatment for desire disorders. Treatment focuses on bringing awareness to any unresolved conflicts and how they impact the patient’s life. While improvement is possible, the sexual dysfunction often becomes autonomous and persists, requiring additional techniques. Various hormones have also been studied for the treatment of sexual desire disorders.

family therapy for teens

Mental health treatment for teens is an important topic to have on the modern table. Teens, already transitioning from childhood into adulthood experience more pressures and complications from the symptoms of mental health issues. With family therapy for teens, among other treatments, to help, learn why seeking that mental health treatment for teens is so important for your teen if the symptoms of mental illness are there.

Teens and Mental Health Issues: The Numbers

Different means are used to estimate how many children, including teenagers, have difficulties with their mental health. The CDC uses such surveys as the National Survey of Children’s Health; in this variety of surveys, parents give reports on their child’s diagnoses from healthcare providers. Some facts about children’s mental disorders in the U.S. include:

  • In an age range of 2 to 17 years, a group that equated to approximately 6.1 million children, over 9% have received a diagnosis of ADHD.
  • In an age range of 3 to 17 years, a group that equated to approximately 4.5 million children, 7.4% have a diagnosed behavior problem.
  • In an age range of 3 to 17 years, a group that equated to approximately 4.4 million children, 7.1% have diagnosed anxiety.
  • In an age range of 3 to 17 years, a group that equated to approximately 1.9 million children, 7.1% have diagnosed depression.
  • Roughly 3 in 4 children between the ages of 3 and 17 years old who have depression also suffer from anxiety; almost 1 in 2 also show behavior problems.
  • Of those children with anxiety between the ages of 3 and 17 years old, greater than 1 in 3 also had behavior problems, with a similar number also having depression.
  • Having one disorder linked to another is most common in those children diagnosed with depression: roughly 3 in 4 also have anxiety and about half show behavior problems.

Teens struggle with the reality of coping with mental illness. While they are disorders of basic brain function, with many causes, society often treats mental illness as a result of poor choices or a moral failing. Teens often already feel scrutinized and judged as their lives transform from children in the process of achieving adulthood. They do not need added burdens to a fragile system. And yet 1 in 5 young persons suffers from mental illness. That is a remarkable 20% of their population, yet little is spent on mental health in health care budgets. At least 1 in 5 currently has a mental health disorder that is diagnosable and causes a degree of impairment; the number of those with significant impairment is 1 in 10.

Most Prevalent Mental Health Issues of Teens

Teens are much more likely than younger children to be diagnosed with depression. Still, the most prevalent mental illnesses found in adolescents are the diagnoses of anxiety, attention, mood, and behavior disorders. Anxiety can arise due to pressure to succeed, high expectations, a scary and threatening world, and the effects of social media on their lives. Its symptoms include behavioral changes like irritability, avoiding activities such as social interactions or school, school avoidance and grades dropping, trouble with sleep or concentration, substance use, and even chronic physical complaints like fatigue and headaches.

Symptoms of teen depression include emotional changes such as:

  • Sad feelings
  • Crying spells for no reason that is apparent
  • Feelings of hopelessness or emptiness
  • Low self-esteem
  • Loss of interest in typical activities, or lack of pleasure in them
  • Loss of interest or conflict with friends and family members
  • Trouble thinking, with concentration, decision-making, and remembering things

There may also be behavioral changes in a depressed teen. These can include:

  • Insomnia or oversleep
  • Tiredness, loss of energy
  • Either decreased appetite and weight loss or increased food cravings and weight gain
  • Substance use
  • Slowed speaking, thinking, or motions
  • Agitation or signs of restlessness
  • Social isolation
  • Decreased attention to appearance and personal hygiene
  • Self-harm
  • Thoughts, plans, or attempts regarding suicide

A striking statistic is that suicide is the second leading reason for death among young people between the ages of 15 and 24 years. This is why it is important to watch for symptoms of teen depression and impulse control disorders. Often a result of untreated mental illness, or of a treated case that has simply gone beyond enduring for the youth, suicide is a lamentable consequence of the struggle with mental health issues. According to WebMD, thoughts of suicides in teens have doubled within a decade.

Relationship Between Mental Health and Substance Abuse

oppositional defiance disorder

Young or older, people who have struggled with mental health difficulties have often had a brush with substance abuse. When a substance seems to provide some sort of answer, be it relief from the symptoms of the disorder, distraction, or good feelings to contrast to the symptoms, it is easy to fall into a habit of abuse. This path can lead to needing substance use therapy.

Teens often are encouraged to experiment with substances by friends and peers. Some parents see this as a type of rite of passage and laugh it off. The truth is, these experiments can turn into serious problems. Openly talking with teens, such as in family therapy for teens, is one means of combatting this possibility.

Teen Mental Health: Seeking Treatment that Help

Alarming statistics and disturbing behaviors can lead to distressing conclusions. Fortunately, mental illnesses can receive treatment. Mental health treatment for teens is available. If your teen is showing symptoms of mental illness, getting help promptly is important. Addressing the issue with the teen, you and other authority figures in the teen’s life, and a professional will let things flow naturally into a healing pattern of expression and understanding. The National Institute of Mental Health recommends having several emergency numbers on teens’ cell phones.

Family therapy for teens is a popular choice of treatments. With the family involved, there is less pressure placed on the teen as an individual who is already feeling immense pressure. Plenty of support and structure are built into family therapy to help the teen combat whichever symptoms are present. Contact us for more information about our program that can help at Mission Harbor Behavioral Health.

The facilities at Mission Harbor are staffed with trained experts to best assist patients with their mental health issues. We are capable of dealing with any and all cases with a licensed staff, equipment, and approved techniques. Our mission is to help those who want to help themselves, and we support your decision in seeking help.

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