When to Worry: How to Tell If Your Teen Needs Help -- And What to Do about It

I teach in a juvenile justice center school and work with kids who have developed problems that many of them will not outgrow and should have been addressed much sooner. This book is just what parents need when it come to sorting out whether behaviors are normal teen development or something to be truly concerned about. I have many parents come to me trying to tease apart behaviors to figure out if their child is troubled or just moody, heading for danger or just experimenting within an expected range. This book, while not simplistic, is surprisingly easy to understand. I appreciated that it puts things in perspective in a very clear way. Having raised 2 teens myself, I believe that every parent can use this book as they face those tumultous years. This book goes right to the top of the book list I recommend for parents of teens. Once again, Dr. Boesky, gets to the chase and offers realistic help instead of just theory.

Drugs, sex and rock'n roll. That sums up your teenage years in four words. Okay, maybe five. Seriously, my children haven't even reached the tween years, and I'm already thinking about what it will be like when their round angelic faces cast a more angular, petulant look the moment they turn thirteen. What am I going to do when my daughter really rolls her eyes at me. I mean really rolls them? That's when I'll turn to the already dog-eared pages of Dr. Lisa Boesky's When to Worry: How to Tell If Your Teen Needs Help -- and What to Do About It. This new release, issued by the American Management Association, outlines in great detail the psychoses and syndromes that might befall your teen. Without a gloom and doom tone, Dr. Lisa shares her most knowledgeable ideas about when to worry that your teens' behavior is not normal. Does your child complain she's too fat, then happily giggle over a sundae with friends? Don't worry. Does your child complain she's too fat, then go on a hunger strike for three months? Worry. Does your child seem outgoing, but there are bloody tissues under her bed from cutting her arms with a razor? Worry. Does your child suffer from an occasional bloody nose in the winter? Don't worry. The book's fifteen chapters provide helpful descriptions, case studies and answers to the most pressing problems parents of teens face. When does my child's strange behavior need to be addressed and when is it alright to chalk it up to his growing brain and body? Dr. Lisa's insights bring to light the many astounding neuroses some teens suffer: obsessive-compulsive disorder; post-traumatic stress disorder; schizophrenia; anorexia; bulimia; and more. I highly recommend this book for all parents who are worried -- that would be most of us! Christine Louise Hohlbaum, author of Diary of a Mother: Parenting Stories and Other Stuff and Sahm I Am: Tales of a Stay-at-Home Mom in Europe, lives near Munich, Germany, with her husband and two children.

While currently experiencing all the facets of development with my 14 yr. old son including self-inquiry, biology, personality, teen hormones, and environment, I found there to be lots of "psycho-babble" in most books.I also found that as a parent, I too needed a "life-coach", a source to provide clear concrete paths to choose from. One's that fit. One's that helped guide this very personal and individualized process. I FINALLY found this in Dr. Lisa's book. She gave us "years" of time and research, which afforded us the TIME we needed to give to our son. This is large. And essential. A road map, with good directions. A brilliant combination. Finlee Stevenson Nia Dance Teacher Mother of two teenage boys Chairperson of National Red Ribbon Week... Annual drug prevention and awareness campaign across the country.

Dr. Boesky presents a wide range of complex issues in a sensible and grounded manner. She offers parents and educators the specifics they need to identify problematic behaviors that often emerge during the difficult and confusing teenage years. She offers hope to the frustrated and empowers adults with the knowledge that proper care, management and intervention can have a positive outcome on an adolescent and their future. A highly recommended resource for all!

As a mother of a son and daughter, each with many worrisome problems, I learned more, understood more, and received clearer direction from Dr. Boesky's book than from a dozen others combined. I was literally riveted to each page, at last feeling like someone, Dr. Lisa, knew exactly what I could do and where I could find help. Every parent should have this guidebook "at the ready!"