by David Aaron White

Created on: January 20, 2010   Last Updated: March 09, 2010

“But I don't want to get out of bed,” I heard my friend say as I tried to drag him out of the house. The poor guy had just been dumped by his girlfriend, and I had arrived at his house to cheer him up, albeit breaking the lock on his door and shouting “surprise!” probably was too elaborate. “Leave me alone! I want to just lay here forever!” I gave up, deciding to just leave him in peace. But as I left the room and proceeded to slowly shut the door, I heard him spring out of bed and mutter, “I hate being alone...”

No matter what's going on in our lives, we teenagers tend to be moody. There's a lot of scientific research that has been done to explain this with hormones; sadly, I'm not even qualified to pretend to know the details, so I'll just leave it at that. However, what I do know is that teenagers develop emotionally as well as physically as they trek through the mire of puberty. Seriously, the only good aspect of being a teenager is feeling self-empowered when you can drive; other than that, it's simply torturous. That being said, there are ways to deal with moody teenagers, whether you're a concerned parent or loving friend:

* If he or she wants space, then stay away. If you extend a hand to help a moody teen and he or she wants to be left alone, you need to understand that he or she wants to be left alone (or at least doesn't want to speak with/see you). Don't push yourself on the upset adolescent; when he or she needs to be consoled, you can extend the offer again.

* Don't make the conversation about yourself, if you get the teen to talk with you. It's fairly annoying when you're trying to work through your problems with someone and he or she decides to talk about him/herself the whole time. Be gracious and patient; if you have something that you just can't keep a secret, go tell someone who isn't having a tough time and trying to tell you about it.

* If you aren't in a conversation with the moody teenager, but he or she is acting depressed around you, then ask if he or she is okay; ask once. If the teen says, “I'm fine,” or “nothing's wrong,” when it's obviously a lie, then you know that he or she doesn't want to talk to you about it. Again, pushing won't really help because it'll only make the person angrier, but this anger will be directed at you.

* If you are on the receiving end of teenage angst, don't go on the defensive. For example, if an angry teenager shoves you in line

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