Troubled Teens Resources

Can a cigarette ultimately lead a kid to teen drug abuse,land them in jail or in schools for troubled teens? Well, it’s a stretch, but the first step down that road has to start somewhere and a recently released report offers the opinion that it starts with that first cigarette.

“Compared to 12- to 17-year-olds who don’t smoke, teenagers who do are over five times more likely to drink and 13 times more likely to use marijuana, media reported quoting a U.S. study Wednesday.

Smokers aged 12 to 17 are more likely to drink alcohol than nonsmokers — 59 percent compared to 11 percent, the study found.

Compared to those who never smoked, those who began smoking at age 12 or younger are more than three times more likely to binge on alcohol — 31 percent compared to 9 percent, and nearly seven times more likely to use other illegal drugs such as heroin and cocaine.”

If indeed the report proves to be accurate - and one always hesitates to accept these findings without further confirmations down the road - none the less, if it is true, then the sequence of addictions is one everyone is familiar with.

The question that has often been posed by parents asks if teenagers seek relief for their depression and anxiety via drugs or if drug use precedes the onset of those conditions. This suggests that smoking could set the teen up for both.

“Teenagers who smoke also have a higher risk of depression and anxiety disorders. Teens who reported early initiation of smoking were more likely to experience serious feelings of hopelessness, depression and worthlessness in the past year.”

(source)

Teen crisis intervention that directs attention to the increasing menace of teenage suicide and depression has been the mission of many in the field of mental health for years. Unfortunately, many parents fail to recognize the basic signs that can manifest during a teen’s bout with depression, thinking it is just moodiness or typical teen angst.

Some troubled teens are able to mask their depression and will do so if they have anxiety over causing stress for their parents or family. Some teens will become obsessed with sports or video games, trying to exorcise their demons by becoming so busy that they can ignore their sadness and fears. Unfortunately, some teens are swept away with the powerful emotions that accompany depression, unable to recognize that their view of the world is being greatly distorted.

Yet, even with all of the ways teens disguise depression, the following symptoms will inevitably become apparent.

• Sad or irritable mood
• Loss of interest in activities that were once enjoyable
• Large changes in appetite or weight
• Difficulty sleeping, or oversleeping
• Slow or agitated movement
• Loss of energy
• Feelings of worthlessness or guilt
• Difficulty concentrating
• Frequent thoughts of death or suicide3
• Frequent headaches, muscle aches, stomach aches or tiredness, without a medical cause
• Frequent absences from school or poor performance in school
• Talk of or efforts to run away from home
• Boredom, sulking
• Lack of interest in spending time with friends or family
• Alcohol or substance abuse
• Social isolation, poor communication
• Fear of death
• Extreme sensitivity to rejection or failure
• Increased irritability, anger, hostility, or crying
• Reckless behavior
• Neglect of clothing and appearance
• Difficulty with relationships
• Changes in mood

(Source)

They are always moody. They come home from school in a good mood and then come raging out of their room an hour later, upset about something that they “just can’t talk about.”
Parents of teenagers are very familiar with the mood fluctuations undergone by their teens. But few parents take any of this moodiness as a sign that their teen is depressed. Indeed, a recent study suggests that most parents do not know when their teenager is going through an actual depressed episode and without some type of crisis intervention, the teen is very vulnerable to the suicidal thoughts swirling around in their head.

“An American study has shown that parents may not know their teenage children as well as they think they do. This results in depression going undiagnosed and increases the risk of suicide.

The study, conducted by a team from Columbia University in New York, found that 90% of the 900 parents interviewed said they would know if their teenage child were depressed or suicidal. In reality, however, two-thirds of depressed teens are not diagnosed and are left at risk of suicide.

Past statistics show that only a third of depressed adolescents are ever diagnosed by any adult, be it their parents, teacher or doctor.”

Because of a teens unwillingness to reveal or talk about their emotional upset, a test is being developed that will screen the troubled teen for any indicators of depressed or suicidal thoughts.

The result of the study is a special free-of-charge screening test that will be made available to certain schools. The test, funded by private donors, includes an hour-long, self-administered questionnaire.

Researchers believe that a teenager will reveal more in a confidential, self-administered questionnaire than they will in an open interview.

The survey was tested out on 640 teenagers of whom 148 were diagnosed with depression. Forty of these depressed teenagers were suicidal. The test missed seven adolescents who were later diagnosed as suicidal.”
(Source)