This website is dedicated to helping parents and caregivers of troubled children, teenagers, and young adults. Use the search box to explore articles or read trending articles, and find information about how to manage challenging behaviors. You can do this–your skills really can improve your family life as well as that of your child.
Are you ready to bang your head on a wall? Do you want to abandon your child in the wilderness? Children with borderline personality disorder (BPD) traumatize everyone around them. Even their drama is relentless, strive for compassion–your borderline child will suffer more than you in every important aspect of life. But parents can have hope–there are numerous practices they can use to improve their’s child’s behavior and these practices work. The most effective are skills drawn from Dialectical Behavioral Therapy.
Troubled children and teenagers who are pathologically defiant have a brain condition with many possible causes or diagnoses. Whether they are overtly aggressive or “passive-aggressive,” parents have options for reducing symptoms of defiance and limiting the stress they bring into the household. If your child is defiant to a degree that affects their life functions, …
The vitamins listed here are absolutely essential for your child’s brain, and it’s highly likely your child doesn’t have enough. People with psychiatric disorders commonly have physical problems that are symptoms of vitamin deficiency. Take digestive problems, for example–low levels of B vitamins cause digestive disorders, especially B12. “One of the most common deficiencies seen …
If you care for a child experiencing hallucinations but don’t know what it’s like, these first-hand accounts may help you better understand and support your child. This writer is taking medications, which help, but do not fully eliminate the hallucinations. “The reason my thoughts inaccurately capture existence is because my understanding of existence is different …
Starting school after a summer vacation triggers behavioral problems in many troubled children and teens. A rocky start can result in problem behavior for a couple of months. Your child does poor academically during those months, and their behavior primes teachers to treat them differently. This guest article by Eileen Devine, LCSW, breaks down the …
Parent abuse is real and serious. This [edited] article is by Alicia Bradley, LCPC, who lives in the United Kingdom. It is excellent and covers a serious and hidden subject that’s rarely addressed. “How many people have heard of parent abuse? especially at the hands of teenage children with serious social and violence issues? Google …
Odd, eccentric, a little weird: people experiencing psychosis are living in dream space. If you haven’t experienced psychosis yourself, it’s a little like the period just before you awake, when you’re in a dream but also aware of your surroundings. Your dream and emerging consciousness weave together in a wonderful or horrible or simply odd …
You may already be a member of the 911 Club, a community of parents who depend on emergency services for managing their mentally ill child. Our T-shirts are black and blue like bruises. Only people raising a mentally ill child or young adult join. Club rules are simple: 1. Focus on safety first. 2. Continually …
Up until recently, news of devastating school shootings swerved to public fights about gun control. I had hoped past shootings would stimulate discussion of mental health treatment (see “Guns and Mental Illness: the Debate from a Parent’s Perspective,” written 5 years ago in 2013). After this recent shooting in Florida, it now is. But be careful …
