When aп adolescent shows problem behaviors

Determining whether an ado­lescent needs professional help when she or he engages in problem behaviors is not an easy task. Adolescents, by nature, tend to have mer­curial moods and engage in behaviors that are distasteful to adults and ran counter to their values. In many cases, though, such behaviors are only part of the ado­lescent's search for identity, are normal, and do not require professional help. Too often when an adolescent first shows a problem behavior, such as drinking or stealing, parents panic and fear that their adolescent is going to turn into a drug ad­dict or a hardened criminal. Such fears are usually not warranted - virtually every adolescent drinks alcohol at some point in their transition from childhood to adulthood, and, likewise, virtually every adolescent engages in at least one or more acts of juvenile delinquency. By overre­acting to such initial occurrences of ado­lescent problem behaviors, parents can exacerbate their relationship with the adolescent and thereby contribute to in­creased parent-adolescent conflict.

What are the circumstances under which parents should seek professional help for their adolescent's problems? Laurence Steinberg and Ann Levine (1990) developed five guidelines for de­termining when to get professional help if an adolescent is showing prob­lem behaviors:

• If the adolescent is showing severe problem behaviors, such as depression, anorexia nervosa, drug addiction, re­peated delinquent acts, or serious school-related problems, parents should not try to treat these problems alone and probably should seek profes­sional help for the adolescent.

• If the adolescent has a problem, but the parents do not know what the problem is, they may want to seek professional help for the adolescent. An example is an adolescent who is socially with­ drawn and doesn't have many friends, which could be due to extreme shyness, depression, stress at school, drug in­volvement, or any of a number of other reasons. If parents do not know what the adolescent's problem is, how can they help the adolescent? Professionals can often make specific diagnoses and provide recommendations for helping the adolescent.

• If parents have tried to solve the adolescent's problem but have not been successful and the problem continues to disrupt the adolescent's life, then parents may wish to seek professional help for the adolescent. Frequent truancy, chronic running away, or repeated, hostile opposition to authority are examples of such problems.

• If parents realize they are part of the adolescent's problem, they may wish to seek professional help for the family. Constant, intense, bitter fighting that
disrupts the everyday living of the fam­ily is a good example. Rarely is one in­dividual the single cause of extensive family dissension. A therapist can objectively analyze the family's problems and help the family members to see
why they are fighting so much and to find ways to reduce the fighting.

• When the family is under extensive stress (from the death of a family
member or a divorce, for example) and the adolescent is not coping well
(for example, becomes depressed or drinks a lot), professional help may be needed.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11