4 Troubled Teens Blog

Has your teenager become irritable and angry? Is he defiant, skipping school or getting into fights? Maybe she's withdrawn and sullen, or doesn't care about her grades anymore. If so, your teen could be struggling with depression.

"Although the majority of depressed teens do not suffer from major medical illness or become suicidal, every depressed teen experiences a barrier to effective living and learning. Unless this barrier is lifted, every teen is at risk for more serious problems that can result from chronic depression."

Depression in teens can be triggered by a variety of factors. In general, teenagers don't have the coping mechanisms that adults have. Thus, they may believe that the negative feelings they experience when a relationship ends, or when there's trouble at school, are going to last forever. Teens in this situation need the help of a professional, such as a therapist, school counselor, or family physician. Source: Statesman Journal (OR)

Labels: depression, angry, defiance

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In Winnipeg, Canada, an estimated 80 to 120 people are considered missing on any given day. Of those, many are teenagers who have run away from home and - in the process - put themselves at risk.

"Just being on the streets unsupervised makes kids vulnerable and there are people who target and exploit that, [Bob] Christmas said. The danger could be anything from an outright sexual predator to the lure of a party house or crack house."

Most runaways return home or are found within 48 hours - but even this relatively brief time on the streets can be enough to get a teen into trouble. In an effort to reduce the number of teen runaways, Manitoba Province has begun enforcing the Child and Family Services Act, which allows police to charge someone who helps a child to run away from home, or who harbors a runaway. Source: Winnipeg Sun

Labels: homelessness, runaways

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Dr. Margaret Dowell, adjunct professor at Carroll Community College (Maryland) presented her students with a challenging assignment: Create works of art that highlight the dangers of drug use and addiction.

"Three galleries at Carroll Community College will be crammed with artwork for 'Art and Addiction: Artistic Insights into Addiction in Recovery,' a program co-sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine."

The exhibit opened Nov. 2. Source: Carroll County Times

Labels: addictions, students, arts

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A Canadian teenager has been missing for over a week. He ran away from home after his father barred him from playing his favorite video game because his grades had been falling.

"Dr. Lawrence Kutner, co-author of Grand Theft Childhood, stresses that video games themselves are not the root of a problem, but instead can be symptomatic of more profound issues. 'If you have a child doing anything obsessively, chances are there is something else going on,' said Dr. Kutner... 'In essence, it's a way of self-medicating,' he said."

A parent who feels a child is too wrapped up in a video game should ask the child's teachers if they've noticed any recent changes in behavior or school performance. If there have been changes, the parent should seek help for the child. Source: National Post (Canada)

Labels: video_games, runaways, consequences

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Carl Bartol has been a prosecuting attorney for over seven years. During the last two, he's worked in a juvenile delinquency unit. His experience with gangs and gang-related violence has prompted him to release the e-book "My Brother's Friends."

Recognizing... that discussion between parents and young children about gangs can be awkward and difficult for many parents to initiate, Bartol devised a solution with My Brother's Friends. "Children under age seven respond very well to stories and pictures." he said. "Because of that, when this e-book was created a lot of thought was put into not only the tone and specific words that were used, but the illustrations as well."

The free e-book can be downloaded at www.PreventDelinquency.org. Source: PR Web

Labels: gangs, juvenile_crime, delinquents

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More Calgary teenagers than ever before are homeless and living on the streets - a reality that is resulting in an increased need for services to deal with issues such as substance abuse and addiction.

"The city's homeless count last May showed there were 154 homeless youths between the ages of 13 and 17 - up from 56 counted six years earlier. There were another 327 homeless people between the ages of 18 to 24. One of the shelters, Avenue 15, which caters to 12- to 19-year-olds, served 838 different clients between July 2007 [and] June 2008."

While part of the increased is attributed to a rise in the city's general population, experts are concerned that more young people are running away from foster care and group homes. Many young people will go to shelters when they need to, but others choose to stay on the streets, regardless of the dangers they face there. Source: Calgary Herald

Labels: homelessness, runaways

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The gold standard for treatment of depression is psychotherapy along with drugs.

However, a new study from Thomson Reuters research service finds that half of the American children and teenagers who are taking antidepressants are not in psychotherapy.

The Thomson group analyzed insurance claims that were filed between 2002 and 2006 from a database of 6.8 million people under age 18. They found that of those who made at least one insurance claim for an antidepressant prescription, only 40 percent had also made claims for one or more therapy sessions. The researchers acknowledged that some parents may be paying for therapy out-of-pocket, and some insurance policies do not cover psychotherapy.

"Therapy with antidepressants is the standard of care," said Dr. Sheila Marcus, child and adolescent psychiatry chief at the University of Michigan Medical School. "But is this what's going on in the real world? No."

The Thomson study comes during a congressional investigation into relationships between influential academicians and drug companies. The inquiry has found that some leading researchers at prestigious universities, including Harvard and Stanford, have conflicts of interest - they are performing studies that determine whether drugs are effective, while at the same time receiving large sums of money from drug companies.

For example, the congressional committee recently reviewed the case of Dr. Charles Nemeroff, who failed to report $1.2 million in income to his employer, Emory University, between 2000 and 2007. Dr. Nemeroff received more than $170,000 from GlaxoSmithKline in 2004, even though he agreed to take no more than $10,000 a year from that company in one year.

"After questioning twenty doctors and research institutions, it looks like problems with transparency are everywhere," Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) said. "The current system for tracking financial relationships is not working."

Labels: antidepressants, medications, therapy

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Two studies - one from Great Britain and another from Florida State University - both point to a biological basis for certain delinquent behaviors in teenaged boys.

The British study, which was conducted by researchers at Cambridge University, found a connection between the hormone cortisol and anti-social behaviors among boys ages 14 to 18 years old. This study appeared in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

The human body produces cortisol when undergoing stress. Cortisol is believed to make people become cautious and control their tempers and violent impulses when they find themselves in difficult circumstances.

The Cambridge researchers recruited 165 boys, some of whom were youthful offenders. The boys underwent cortisol level tests before and after they played a computer game rigged to make them angry. In most boys, cortisol levels rose. However, in boys with a history of difficult behaviors, cortisol levels tended to fall.

The Florida State research team analyzed data about family, friends, and genetics that had been collected from 1,816 middle school and high school students. The researchers found that boys who possess a certain gene variant were more likely to associate with delinquent friends. This did not hold true for girls with the variant.

"This research is groundbreaking because it shows that the propensity in some adolescents to affiliate with delinquent peers is tied up in the genome," said Dr. Kevin Beaver, an assistant professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice.

However, the team also found that environment plays a role in whether boys associate with delinquent peers. The boys with the gene variant who came from "low-risk" (nurturing) families did not tend to associate with delinquents.

The Florida State study appeared in the Journal of Genetic Psychology.

Labels: behavioral_issues, boys, anti-social

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For many teens who attempt suicide, dying seems like the only way out of a seemingly impossible situation, or away from extremely painful thoughts or feelings.

"A teen with a sufficient network of friends, family, religious organization, peer groups, or extracurricular activities may have an outlet to deal with their frustrations. But many teens don't believe that they have this type of support and report feeling disconnected and isolated from their loved ones. These teens can be at risk for suicide."

Suicide is the third-leading cause of death among youth aged 15 to 24, following accidents and homicide. Youth with psychological issues or a family history of psychological issues are believed to be at greatest risk, experts say.Source: Kauai Garden Island News

Labels: suicide, depression, death

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A Finnish study of more than 7,000 teenagers concluded that inactivity in young people is linked to increased anxiety and depression, as well as to emotional and behavioral problems. Inactive boys and girls suffered from more attention and social problems, such as rule breaking, than teens who exercised often. Inactive girls reported more sleep problems.

"Adolescence is a complicated and sometimes difficult stage of life - emotionally, mentally and physically," the study's author, Marko Kantomaa, said. "Compounding that with negative mental and emotional effects brought on by physical inactivity does not help young people ease into adulthood. Physical activity could be a highly effective and relatively easy way to help that transition."

This study appeared in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine.

Labels: emotional_issues, behavioral_issues, exercise

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Alternative therapies do not help children who have been traumatized by violence or abuse, according to a new study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. However, the study did find that conventional talk therapy is effective.

A research team from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reviewed a dozen previous studies and found no evidence that alternative therapies provide good outcomes for children who have gone through physical or sexual abuse, domestic violence, or natural disasters.

The therapies reviewed were play and art therapy (in which children use toys or art to express threatening thoughts or feelings) and psychological debriefing (in which a group of children who have witnessed a traumatic event share thoughts and feelings).

Talk therapy involves having the child sit down for several sessions with a trained therapist who helps him explore and change her thoughts and beliefs..

Labels: trauma, therapy, abuse

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Teens who watch medical documentaries and medical dramas like "ER" on television are more likely to worry about their health, according to a Belgian study of 1,300 teens.

Teens who watch these programs increase their level of health fears by as much as 10 percent, the study found, and girls are more affected than boys.

Labels: health, influences, TV

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Children who are cigarette smokers in middle school are more likely to engage in troubled behaviors as teens, according to a new study from the Rand Corporation.

Researchers collected saliva samples from 2,000 middle school students to determine which children were smokers. By the time the early smokers were eighteen years old, 58 percent had engaged in two or more problem behaviors, including binge drinking, selling drugs, abusing drugs, and dropping out of school.

Those children who had not tried smoking in middle school were one and a half times more likely to have grade point averages of 3.0 (B) or above and to live in an intact family.

This study appears in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Labels: smoking, smokers, middle_school

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Teens with high anxiety levels perceive threats when conditions are actually safe, according to a new study from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Michelle Craske and her colleagues are in the fourth year of an eight-year study to identify which factors put teens at risk for adult depression.

At the beginning of the study, the 650 participants were sixteen years old. They receive a mild electric shock when a screen became red, but no shocks when they were before a green screen. Teens with high levels of negative emotions, such as fear, anger, sadness, and shame, were more likely to tense up and have higher startle responses even when their screens were safe or green.

Dr. Craske believes that these teens are at risk for depression and anxiety as adults.

This study appears in the journal Biological Psychiatry.

Labels: depression, anxiety

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Maternal depression increases a teenager's risk for depression, even if the teen is adopted, according to a study from the University of Minnesota.

Dr. Erin Tully and colleagues studied 568 adopted adolescents and 446 teens who were living with their biological parents. Depression in mothers, but not fathers, increased the likelihood of the teen having depression and behavioral problems, including juvenile delinquency. This was true in both groups, but especially in non-adoptees, which implied a genetic component as well.

If a mother responded successfully to interventions, such as medication and psychotherapy, her child's mental health improved too.

This study appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Labels: depression, mothers, influences

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Certain new drugs for childhood mental disorders do not perform as well as old ones and can cause serious weight gains, according to a study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

The new drugs are Risperdal, Zyperdal, Seroquel, Geodon and Abilify. Although the U.S. Federal Drug Administration has not specifically approved them for pediatric use, doctors are prescribing them frequently for hyperactivity, depression, autism, bipolar disorder, aggression, and schizophrenia.

The old drug, Molindone, performed better and did not cause as many serious side effects as the new ones, which cost four times more.

The study, which involved 116 children ages 8 to 19 years old, appears in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Labels: mental_health, medications, treatment_programs

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According to the National Youth Violence Prevention Resource Center, gay teens are at greater risk of committing suicide than are their heterosexual counterparts.

Local Suicide Specialist Kristi Haynes said, "They are not only dealing with the normal issues that teens are dealing with in general. Then, on top of that they are dealing with bullying in school, isolation when they come out, they're kicked out of their homes."

In response to this risk, the Vista Youth Center in Kennewick, Wash., held an educational program aimed at teaching gay youth how to recognize warning signs of suicide. In addition to a discussion period, the teens in attendance watched a movie called Trevor, about a 13-year-old boy who struggles with his sexuality and tries to commit suicide. About 12 teens attended the program. Source: KNDO-TV (WA)

Labels: suicide, gay, lesbian

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