Troubled Teen Therapy

Anxiety runs rampant in teens.

A large percentage of adolescents have difficulty during these formative years. It’s a life stage that is commonly associated with stronger anxiety, and your teen is trying to figure things out.

They are bombarded with many questions. What do I want to do in life? What are my future goals? What are my relationship goals? How do I deal with school? How do I handle various social pressures? These are just a few of the issues running through a teen’s mind.

Family dynamics have a tremendous impact.

Then, there is the increased anxiety in the greater family system, and the family is for the most part not yet even aware of this.

In taking a detailed family history, it is often very easy to identify the anxiety to which the child/family is reacting. This allows for the creation of a shift in the adult’s relationship to collective anxiety.

That one simple shift can often be enough to lessen the impact of the anxiety and to allow everyone to get a bit more “breathing room.”

Once the level of anxiety becomes more manageable, people can start thinking differently and change their part that is contributing to the problem.

My approach with the family.

Because my position in troubled teen therapy involves working with the most motivated, financially responsible person(s) in the family, I want to have regular contact with the parent(s). It does not make sense for me to work only with a teen and not have any contact with their parent(s).

Attachment…

Parents, especially mothers, are attached to their children and vice versa. This is the “stickiness” in the relationship, and teens react to this.

This is easily demonstrated by the “helicopter parent,” but it also can be seen in the neglectful parent as well. The parent who neglects their child is just responding differently to the intense level of attachment present in this crucial relationship.

“But my other children didn’t/don’t have these problems.”

Even though almost all parents will say that they love their children equally, there is usually a reason that the attachment is more intense with one or several of the children.

First male, firstborn male, first female, firstborn female, a child born with a physical disability, a child born at a particularly vulnerable time in the family, a child born after a series of miscarriages or a stillbirth represent many different reasons that a child can command the focus of the parents.

Thinking differently…

If I share my ideas about family systems with the parent(s) during troubled teen therapy and those ideas make sense, then they can start to do their part a little differently. A slight change in thinking can bring about big changes in the system.

Call my North County San Diego, CA, office at (760) 683-4279 or email me today so that your teen can find a better path.