"At the treatment center, Autumn learned other ways of coping with stress. She began keeping a journal and listening to music by rock bands such as Linkin Park and Panic! at the Disco instead of cutting."

Labels: cutting, stress, treatment_programs

"I do not know her family or the intimate details of their situation, but because I do understand the view many take of mental illness, I can surmise. The family simply did not acknowledge the stranglehold mental or emotional illness has on an individual, and like many others, simply wanted Gotbaum to be provided with the rights and dignity afforded to any other grown woman to make her own decisions and to chart her own course of action. If she chose to travel alone, they let her."

Labels: at_risk, emotional_issues, mental_health

Labels: awareness, delinquents, prevention

"[Dr. Kristin Cadenhead] urges parents to get their children evaluated by a mental health expert if they exhibit noticeable changes in thoughts, behavior or emotions... 'We don't want to alarm an individual or a family. More than 70 percent of young people who appear (to be in distress) will not necessarily develop a psychotic disorder,' she says. 'Our goal is to identify a psychotic illness before it fully starts, so we can intervene earlier and help prevent some of the devastating effects of the illness.'

Labels: brain_chemistry, emotional_issues, mental_health

"The study obtained first-hand information from practitioners to propose the development of culturally relevant, quality care for rural adolescent populations that have limited access to behavioral health care. Researchers...found four commonly held cultural stereotypes that health care providers' believed inhibited Hispanic youth from seeking help for substance abuse - family, religion and spirituality, gender roles and socioeconomic factors."

Labels: culture, influences, treatment_programs

"The numbers come from the State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services. It found that one out of every five young people in grades seven through12 gamble - that's 300,000 students statewide."

Labels: gambling, risky_behaviors, teen_issues

"The youths are taken to bowling nights and movies, as well as Skid Row in Los Angeles and the county morgue. One important event in the program includes being 'arrested' and kept in jail for a few hours, to show the teens what the experience is like."

Labels: education, motivation, support

"The United Way's 211 created the Youth Yellow Pages so that teens won't have to deal with issues such as violence, eating disorders and peer pressure alone. The adults in their lives may not have grown up dealing with these issues. Together, they can count on United Way's 211 to provide the information and referrals they need when facing new problems or concerns. Armed with the facts, adults can help teens make informed choices and reach intelligent decisions for themselves."

Labels: parenting_help, support, teen_issues

"But the danger of not talking about bullies or the victims of bullying is extreme, especially with the increasing use of violence to settle school-aged grudges. The fury once expressed by words and fists has manifested itself with a 15-year-old girl fatally stabbed on a Cleveland street, an alienated loner striding into school with weapons drawn, and an honor-roll student who left a seven-page suicide note saying he was killing himself because classmates who called him names like gay or faggot were unrelenting."

Labels: bullying, victims, violence

Scientists from the University of California in San Diego used functional magnetic brain imaging to study adolescent boys who are "reactively aggressively."

"These kids tend to overreact - they punch someone or kick a door, but afterwards, they regret it," said Dr. Guido Frank, one of the lead researchers.

Labels: aggression, boys, brain_chemistry

Labels: behavioral_issues, criminals, influences

"...Arlington police said that what concerns them most is that while the number of gangs in the city has remained fairly constant over the past few years, the violence seems to be escalating."

Labels: aggression, gangs, violence

"Hopkins, a New Jersey native, became a local volunteer in 1982 at the Children's Receiving Home of Sacramento, an emergency shelter for abused and neglected children. After three or four years there, she joined the Foster Grandparent Program sponsored by Sacramento County's Department of Human Assistance. In this capacity, she began counseling boys and girls at juvenile hall."

Labels: abuse, counseling, support

Labels: psychiatric_illness, schools, testing

"'We know they exist, because they are showing up at our doors, and they're calling us,' said Cheryl Hall-Russell, chief executive officer of the Indiana Youth Services Association. But estimates of runaway and homeless youths in Indiana vary widely, from 10,000 to three times that many."

Labels: homelessness, legislation

"The students generally reported getting about 7.6 hours of sleep each night. And, study findings show, the less sleep the adolescents had, the more likely they were to report having attempted suicide. Those who slept less than eight hours each night were about three times more likely to attempt suicide than those who slept a minimum of nine hours."

Labels: sleep, suicide, teens

Labels: depression, medictions, therapy

"In the future we may have the opportunity to use genomic tests to guide personalized care for depression," said Dr. Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Labels: antidepressants, genetics, medictions