When to Worry: How to Tell If Your Teen Needs Help-And What to Do About It (Paperback)

~ Lisa Boesky (Author)
Key Phrases: worry barometer, worry signs, teens suffering, Conduct Disorder, Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Parents can easily feel overwhelmed when suddenly faced with a moody, defiant, unfocused, unpredictable, angry or overly sensitive teenager. They wonder if these changes are a normal part of adolescence of if their teen is in need of help.

When to Worry helps parents distinguish typical teenage behaviors from those that merit concern. It then walks parents through steps they can take to help troubled teens before it's too late. Parents will learn:

Warning signs of potential problems
Which strategy works best for each issue
How to effectively communicate with teens
How and where to get professional help
The pros and cons of medication for teens

When to Worry provides essential information on problematic teenage issues: mood swings, rebellion and defiance, school difficulties, teen depression, ADHD, alcohol and drug use, self-injury ("cutting"), low self-esteem, delinquency, learning disabilities, out of control teens, worries/fears and stress, eating disorders, aggression, bipolar disorder, aspergers, teen suicide, trauma, and more.

Parents learn how to recognize warning signs of important teen problems and are given specific "dos and don'ts" to decrease their teen's struggles and increase peace in the family home.

Compassionate and reassuring, this practical and user-friendly guide is invaluable to any adult concerned about a teenage child.

When to Worry was awarded a 2007 iParenting Media Award for "Outstanding Book"

Book Description

iParenting Media Awards 2007

Parents can easily feel overwhelmed when suddenly faced with a moody, defiant, unfocused, unpredictable, angry or overly sensitive teenager. They wonder if these changes are a normal part of adolescence of if their teen is in need of help.

When to Worry helps parents distinguish typical teenage behaviors from those that merit concern. It then walks parents through steps they can take to help troubled teens before it's too late. Parents will learn:

Warning signs of potential problems

Which strategy works best for each issue

How to effectively communicate with teens

How and where to get professional help

The pros and cons of medication for teens

When to Worry provides essential information on problematic teenage issues: mood swings, rebellion and defiance, school difficulties, teen depression, ADHD, alcohol and drug use, self-injury ("cutting"), low self-esteem, delinquency, learning disabilities, out of control teens, worries/fears and stress, eating disorders, aggression, bipolar disorder, aspergers, teen suicide, trauma, and more.

Parents learn how to recognize warning signs of important teen problems and are given specific "dos and don'ts" to decrease their teen's struggles and increase peace in the family home.

Compassionate and reassuring, this practical and user-friendly guide is invaluable to any adult concerned about a teenage child.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM; 1 edition (July 18, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814473636
• ISBN-13: 978-0814473634
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #27,155 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #55 in	Books > Parenting & Families > Parenting > Teenagers
  #55 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Child Psychology > Psychology
  #65 in	Books > Health, Mind & Body > Psychology & Counseling > Adolescent Psychology

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Look at the Teen Years, November 24, 2007

By	Christine Louise Hohlbaum "award-winning auth... (near Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Much Needed Book, January 12, 2008

By	Donna Coffeen (Walla Walla, WA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a true Life-Application workbook, that WORKS!!!, July 24, 2007

By	Finlee Stevenson - See all my reviews

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.