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RSS FeedDefiance in teens: Angst or mental disorder?
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| Angst | 94% | 203 votes | Total: 217 votes | |
| Mental Dis | 6% | 14 votes |
Angst
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Add to FavoritesThere is an epidemic surging throughout kids ages 13-19. Nationwide, quite possibly even worldwide, the affliction of defiance is crippling our teenagers across the globe. What could be the cause? Why would our teenagers be hit so hard with this defiance? Quite possibly we could be looking at a true medical condition. We could be ignoring sure signs of some type of adolescent mental disorder? Then again, if we all take a step back, close our eyes, and take a deep breath, at the tail end of our exhale and as our eyes open, maybe we will see a different picture of what is the cause of defiance in teens?
Even now, Merck and Pfizer are scrambling their respective teams together attempting, at the expense of many a lab rat, to develop a pill that will cure defiance in teens. At the risk of nausea, dizziness, shortness of breath, vomiting, liver failure, constipation, and potential death in minor cases, our pharmaceutical monopolies are on the case for parents around the world. And though these pill companies shirk in the face of potentially death inducing side effects from their drugs, we can not even place blame on the pharmaceutical companies. Our twenty four hour a day news cycles, Wolf Blitzer chatting with a hologram, political pushes for pharmaceutical needs, and blogs have this country and it's citizenry completely neurotic and over reacting to any news they stream on their Blackberries. Two years ago Bird Flu was on the precipice of effects not seen since the Black Plague. Before that West Nile Virus threatened all of humanity. Seven year olds who can't sit still in their chairs are labeled ADD and given a prescription for Ritalin. If you're older than seven then you get an extra letter ascribed to your condition, you get to be ADHD. Congratulations. You're tired three or four days out of the week, you must have sleepapnia. You've surpassed the age of retirement and have nothing to do at home, you're given a blue pill and your wife is alerted. This country has halted allowance for nature to move forward with it's plans with heavy dosages of doctor's scripts.
Defiance in teenagers does not spring from a well of mental disorders. Defiance in teenagers springs from the angst all teenagers feel or have felt throughout those tumultuous years between thirteen and nineteen. Teenagers are defiant because along with the extra hair, their vocal changes, and intensifying odor, teenage angst is apart of growing up. Teens are discovering who they are going to be. Confined within the boundaries of their teen years, their bodies are molting. They are going through physical transformations they have not gone through since they were babies. They have acne, body odor, hair all over the place, they are awkward, confused, and insecure. Teenagers have hormones racing through their bodies like a Nascar driver without a speed limiter. The flow of changes taking place is cause for defiance. Teenagers get to have parents who either do not understand the changes or try to hard to understand the changes. They have parents more interested in text messages, spray on tans, and ignoring dialog or communication with their kids preferring to throw some medicine at them instead. Is it any wonder, with all the stresses going on around them and a perceived lack of support, why teenagers would be defiant?
Teenagers become defiant as a way of expressing themselves. They find themselves still unequipped to properly put into words their emotions. Their defiance marks a defense mechanism triggered to combat against undesirable persons and unwanted advice. Parents, friends, teachers, anyone who poses a potential annoyance or threat seems to be the one targeted by a teenagers defiance and that is okay. This is what teenagers are supposed to be doing. As their parents, we should not be overreacting to our teenagers defiance. Our kids do not need a prescription for Zanex. Our kids need parents who are smart enough to get involved when needed and back off when they are not. Our kids need parents who understand not the specific situations going on with Buffy and Tad's relationship woes. Those sorts of situations are handled best by a teenager's peers. Parents are not here to become friends with their teenagers. Parents are here to be a shoulder to cry on, an ear to listen, a voice of reason, and the unconditional love our teenagers say they don't want but so desperately need.
The last thing any of us needs is another pill for another completely natural ailment. It is bad enough right now trying to watch television what with every other commercial showing two people sitting in tubs on a mountain or a CGI bee explaining how much you need nose spray, we do not need another aimed at our teenagers. There is enough pressure with drugs and teenagers, why would we need something else to put into their mouths?
Teen defiance is not caused by any sort of mental disorder. Teen defiance is stoked early on. Right about after your newly crowned thirteen year old is done blowing out all the candles on their cake, their defiance is building. Let us not give our children another reason to feel insecure or unsure of themselves by making them think there is something wrong with them. Blaming a mental disorder only goes to plant more doubt in people who are already filled up to the nose with self doubt. For just one second, let's click Wolf Blitzer off, settle down a bit, and explain to our children what they are feeling is natural. Let them know they don't need another pill to be taken once daily before their first meal to cure what ails them. What they need is time to figure out themselves, figure out the people around them, become comfortable with who they are. Their 20th birthday would sure be a welcomed sight too but until then we'll hold off on the pills and disorders.
Learn more about this author, Jimmy Ettele.
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Mental Dis
It is estimated that 1 in every 5 children struggles with some form of emotional, behavioral or mental disorder. While a younger child may exhibit indicators that there may be an underlying problem it is typically not until that child reaches adolecense that thsese symptoms are identified. Neither children or teenagers have the verbal capacity to communicate internal conflicts and emotions nor do they understand the nature of what is happening with them. Ultimately these internal struggles unaddressed lead to acting out behaviors, and far too often something has had to happen for parents to seek help for their child because they do not understand what their child is doing or how they arrived at this place in time, didn't they give their child enough love and support? It is not uncommon for parents to take on the guilt and shame of having a child who acts out and far too often those feelings will delay a parent in seeking out help for their child until it can no longer be avoided. No one wants to be a seen as a bad parent, the myth that you are because your child has some form of emotional or psychological impairment is a flawed concept.
How a mental disorder develops is explained through varying considerations. Enviromental stressors factor in in some circumstances, however just as equally there are medical causes and explainations. An organic deficit can lead any sordid behaviors from minor infractions to the strangely bizzare. Just as no two people are alike, no two disorders will compare in the exact same measure. It is commonly accepted that alcoholism is a genetic disorder, it should be received with equal acceptance that disorders such as ADHD, bipolar, scizophrenia and depression are just as transferrable. To identify them at younger stages of development, and treat the chemical impairments, help educate the parent and child while focusing on the childs cognitive development at early onset might prevent later stages of problematic behaviors. Often times, when the adolescent begins outwardly acting out it creates a cycle of stressors that serve to exaherbate the symptomatic behaviors unti the family itself is in chaos. Not knowing how to deal with the unknown to them is challenging, but it becomes just as challenging to a parent whose patience has been pulled beyond limitations; enter in the enviromental influences.
There is an unprecedented number of teenagers in hospital rooms across our country who engage in self-harming behaviors. Suicide is the leading cause of death between those between the ages of 12 -24 years. We've seen an influx of drug and alcohol abuse, early childhood sexuality and criminal behavior. These behaviors are not new, what is; is the growing number of kids dealing with these issue's. When we look at an adult who behaves in these ways, we look at charector and consider it flawed because they are adults. However wrong we may be, iwe cannot look at children with the same implications. Their charectors are not yet even fully developed. It is inportant to weigh in the childs psycho-social history, and enviromental factors in making a determination as to whether their behavior is a symptom or simply bad behavior.
There is a significant difference between children who act out for the sole purpose of gaining attention or to fill a want and those who have emotional, behavioral or psychological deficits. Children who take on parental impairments or become products of their enviroment due to neglect, drug use in the home, or say a detached parent will often act on with a generalized "I don't care" attitude and their main goal is a moment of attention- good or bad. There negative behaviors affect everyone around them, and they are often identified as bully's, trouble makers, and so on. Whereas, children with definable and likely diasnosis, will often internalize their struggles and struggle with everything, acting out is a last measure. The difference is usually discovered in educational forums where children socialize with each other the majority of their time. Bullying can occur with a child who has even a slight mental or emotional disorder, but it seldom prevails, and is often mistaken for "bad behavior" because no one has the answers until the effort to explain is made. Since it is both costly and time tasking for the school it is up to the parent to request an evaluation of their child, the school will typically not prompt it.
It can fairly be argued that we are too quick to label our children as impaired and medicate them for behaviors that might be temporary. But I wonder, how much then do you value youth? Acting out once or twice is typical of a child to test boundaries, it iis not typical when a behavior is repeated, consequences fail, or other people are placed at risk. A good portion of celebrities have come forward to talk about eraly identification in mental health disorders, simply because they themselves struggled without the knowledge of what was happening and without the use of medical treatment that proves to be effective. If they are going to advocate for focus and better treatment options, why would you, not want to do that yourself, for your own child?
Learn more about this author, Faith Behrends.
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