This groundbreaking book argues that adolescence is an unnecessary period of life that people are better off without. Robert Epstein, former editor-in-chief of "Psychology Today," shows that teen turmoil is caused by outmoded systems put into place a century ago which destroyed the continuum between childhood and adulthood. Where this continuum still exists in other countries, there is no adolescence. Isolated from adults, American teens learn everything they know from their media-dominated peers--"the last people on earth they should be learning from," says Epstein. Epstein explains that our teens are highly capable--in some ways more capable than adults--and argues strongly against "infantilizing" young people. We must rediscover "the adult in every teen," he says, by giving young people adult authority and responsibility as soon as they can demonstrate readiness. This landmark book will change the thinking about teens for decades to come.
Do you sometimes wonder how your teen is ever going to survive on his or her own as an adult? Does your high school junior seem oblivious to the challenges that lie ahead? Does your academically successful nineteen-year-old still expect you to “just take care of” even the most basic life tasks? Welcome to the stunted world of the Endless Adolescence. Recent studies show that today’s teenagers are more anxious and stressed and less independent and motivated to grow up than ever before. Twenty-five is rapidly becoming the new fifteen for a generation suffering from a debilitating “failure to launch.” Now two preeminent clinical psychologists tell us why and chart a groundbreaking escape route for teens and parents. Drawing on their extensive research and practice, Joseph Allen and Claudia Worrell Allen show that most teen problems are not hardwired into teens’ brains and hormones but grow instead out of a “Nurture Paradox” in which our efforts to support our teens by shielding them from the growth-spurring rigors and rewards of the adult world have backfired badly. With compelling examples and practical and profound suggestions, the authors outline a novel approach for producing dramatic leaps forward in teen maturity, including • Turn Consumers into Contributors Help teens experience adult maturity–its bumps and its joys–through the right kind of employment or volunteer activity. • Feed Them with Feedback Let teens see and hear how the larger world perceives them. Shielding them from criticism–constructive or otherwise–will only leave them unequipped to deal with it when they get to the “real world.” • Provide Adult Connections Even though they’ll deny it, teens desperately need to interact with adults (including parents) on a more mature level–and such interaction will help them blossom! • Stretch the Teen Envelope Do fewer things for teens that they can do for themselves, and give them tasks just beyond their current level of competence and comfort. Today’s teens are starved for the lost fundamentals they need to really grow: adult connections and the adult rewards of autonomy, competence, and mastery. Restoring these will help them unlearn their adolescent helplessness and grow into adults who can make you–and themselves–proud.
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • AN ALL-ENCOMPASSING GUIDE THAT PARENTS WILL WANT FOR THEIR TEENS This thorough, concise guide offers straight talk about: • The male and female body as it changes and matures. • Teen relationships: what it takes to create happy, supportive, positive, and meaningful connections with family, friends, and others. • Identity empowerment: how to be authentic and thrive in today’s world. • Sex and sexuality for boys and girls: how teens should take care of their bodies, embrace their experiences, and strengthen self-esteem. • Strategies for working through the toughest challenges, including bullying, sexual abuse, eating disorders, pregnancy, and more. Praise for Being a Teen “A frank and candid resource for adolescents.”—People “Fonda’s warmth and love for the teen community is evident.”—Publishers Weekly “Clear, practical, and riveting, Being a Teen cuts away at myth, enhances teens’ self-esteem, and arms them with a trove of useful information. Beautifully organized . . . Any parent, teacher, coach, or doctor needs to read this authoritative guide. What a lifesaver for our boys and girls!”—William S. Pollack, PhD, author of the international bestseller Real Boys and Associate Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School “Being a Teen should be in the hands of every teen in the world. It is a myth-busting, fact-filled treasure full of life information all teens want and need to know.”—Christiane Northrup, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom “Clear, unflinching, and nonjudgmental . . . a reliable guide to the turbulent physical and social transitions of adolescence.”—Michael Kimmel, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Gender Studies, Stony Brook University, and author of Guyland “A comprehensive, honest, fun-to-read book for today’s teenagers. This delightful book will be used again and again.”—The Reverend Debra W. Haffner, president, Religious Institute, and author of From Diapers to Dating “Detailed, accurate and practical . . . an excellent resource.”—Paul Kivel, author of Boys Will Be Men
National Indie Excellence Awards, first prize in the Parenting and Family category Arguing that adolescence is an unnecessary period of life that people are better off without, this groundbreaking study shows that teen confusion and hardships are caused by outmoded systems that were designed to destroy the continuum between childhood and adulthood. Documenting how teens are isolated from adults and are forced to look to their media-dominated peers for knowledge, this discussion contends that by infantilizing young people, society does irrevocable harm to their development and well-being. Instead, parents, teachers, employers, and others must rediscover the adults in young people by giving them authority and responsibility as soon as they exhibit readiness. Teens are highly capable--in some ways more than adults--and this landmark discussion offers paths for reaching and enhancing the competence in America's youth.
This book applies modern object relations theory—particularly the concept of intersubjectivity as articulated by Thomas Ogden—to a population for which the 'treatment du jour' is increasingly cognitive-behavioral. Taking his lead from the delinquent adolescents in his practice, Dr. Brodie presents a treatment approach based on respect rather than condescension. Adolescents are related to as people, rather than as transitory objects passing through a 'stage.' Rather than judging their feelings and behaviors as 'aberrant,' the author views them as having emerged out of the complex matrix of his patients' lives. Adolescence and Delinqucney: An Object Relations Theory Approach is less an attempt to apply object relations theory to a particular population than it is an attempt to illuminate the seamlessness of theory and application. Theory and case examples are presented in a dialectical relationship, psychological theory having no meaning other than an attempt to understand real people, and the people we work with are unintelligible outside some systematic frame of reference.
This text covers everything occupational therapists need to know about therapy for children. The book focuses on children at many ages and stages in development, comprehensively addressing both treatment techniques and diagnoses settings.
#1 New York Times Bestseller The groundbreaking work that poses one of the most provocative questions of a generation: what is happening to the selves of adolescent girls? As a therapist, Mary Pipher was becoming frustrated with the growing problems among adolescent girls. Why were so many of them turning to therapy in the first place? Why had these lovely and promising human beings fallen prey to depression, eating disorders, suicide attempts, and crushingly low self-esteem? The answer hit a nerve with Pipher, with parents, and with the girls themselves. Crashing and burning in a “developmental Bermuda Triangle,” they were coming of age in a media-saturated culture preoccupied with unrealistic ideals of beauty and images of dehumanized sex, a culture rife with addictions and sexually transmitted diseases. They were losing their resiliency and optimism in a “girl-poisoning” culture that propagated values at odds with those necessary to survive. Told in the brave, fearless, and honest voices of the girls themselves who are emerging from the chaos of adolescence, Reviving Ophelia is a call to arms, offering important tactics, empathy, and strength, and urging a change where young hearts can flourish again, and rediscover and reengage their sense of self.
Now completely revised (over 90% new), this definitive practitioner reference and course text comprehensively reviews evidence-based treatments for psychological disorders in children and adolescents. The significantly expanded fourth edition covers an increased number of disorders, as well as transdiagnostic issues and public health concerns. Psychosocial, pharmacological, and complementary therapies are identified and described in well-organized chapters that include rich clinical illustrations. Prominent experts address developmental considerations in treatment and offer guidance for tailoring interventions to each child and family's needs. Prior edition title: Treatment of Childhood Disorders, Third Edition, edited by Eric J. Mash and Russell A. Barkley. New to This Edition *All chapters are new, reflecting over a decade of clinical and empirical developments. *Chapters on additional clinical issues: bipolar disorder, suicidal and nonsuicidal self-injury, obsessive–compulsive disorder, infant and toddler problems, posttraumatic stress disorder, coping and emotion regulation, bereavement, early-onset schizophrenia, personality disorders, childhood obesity, and sleep problems. *Chapters on case conceptualization and evidence-based therapist flexibility. *Illustrative case examples and transcripts added throughout. *Updated for DSM-5; every chapter also considers transdiagnostic and dimensional issues. See also the editors' Assessment of Disorders in Childhood and Adolescence, Fifth Edition.
Teen Spirit offers a novel and provocative perspective on how we came to be living in an age of political immaturity and social turmoil. Award-winning author Paul Howe argues it's because a teenage mentality has slowly gripped the adult world. Howe contends that many features of how we live today—some regrettable, others beneficial—can be traced to the emergence of a more defined adolescent stage of life in the early twentieth century, when young people started spending their formative, developmental years with peers, particularly in formal school settings. He shows how adolescent qualities have slowly seeped upward, where they have gradually reshaped the norms and habits of adulthood. The effects over the long haul, Howe contends, have been profound, in both the private realm and in the public arena of political, economic, and social interaction. Our teenage traits remain part of us as we move into adulthood, so much so that some now need instruction manuals for adulting. Teen Spirit challenges our assumptions about the boundaries between adolescence and adulthood. Yet despite a cultural system that seems to be built on the ethos of Generation Me, it's not all bad. In fact, there has been an equally impressive rise in creativity, diversity, and tolerance within society: all traits stemming from core components of the adolescent character. Howe's bold and suggestive approach to analyzing the teen in all of us helps make sense of the impulsivity driving society and encourages us to think anew about civic reengagement.
Written in side-splitting and often cringe-inducing detail, Paul Feig takes you in a time machine to a world of bombardment by dodge balls, ill-fated prom dates, hellish school bus rides, and other aspects of public school life that will keep you laughing in recognition and occasionally sighing in relief that you aren’t him. Kick Me is a nostalgic trip for the inner geek in all of us.
