My Friend Told Me They Want to Die. What Should I Do?
You’re a teen, and you’re having a late-night DMC with your friend. In the midst of the conversation, he or she admits they’ve thought about dying. It may have come out as a casual confession or a tearful admission. Whatever it is and however it came out, it’s clear to you they’re thinking about suicide. […]
How To Parent A Teenager With Borderline Personality Disorder
Borderline personality disorder in teens is marked by a host of symptoms. There’s emotional instability and extreme bouts of moodiness. Identity issues. Chaotic relationships. Self-harming behavior and suicidal ideation. While many of these issues sound like they’re common in teens, adolescents with borderline personality disorder experience them much more intensely than others. “Their emotions can […]
Association Between Substance Use and Suicidal Behavior in Adolescents
Adolescence is a critical period in life, characterized by drastic physical, mental, and psychological changes. Young people between the ages of 13 and 19 begin to gain a sense of independence and determine their place in the world. These developmental years typically set the stage for the remainder of their lives. It’s also a time […]
Preventative Psychiatry for Teen Mental Health
Teen mental health is a primary concern in our society right now. The pandemic significantly disrupted the end of the 2019-2020 school year and the entire 2020-2021 school year. So far, the 2021-2022 school year – fingers crossed – appears to be a return to our regularly scheduled programming. Or, at very least, most high […]
The Effect of Hate Crime Laws on Teen Suicide
Teen suicide is a serious problem in the U.S. and worldwide. The increase in teen suicide in the U.S. is well-documented, with the most recent alarm sounded from the top public health official in the country: the Surgeon General. A report published in late 2021 called “Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory” […]
Cyberbullying and Suicidality Among U.S. Pre-Teens
We recently published an article on the relationship between bullying, cyberbullying, and suicidality among teenagers in the U.S. and Canada. In that article, we reported on the prevalence rates of bullying in the U.S. and Canada and defined the primary types of bullying teens experience. Here’s a quick summary of the information we shared in […]
New National Suicide and Mental Health Emergency Hotline: Call 988
Suicide Hotline, Mental Health Emergencies, Substance Use Emergencies Before the coronavirus pandemic swept across the country in early 2020 and created a mental health crisis for children and adolescents that prompted the Surgeon General of the United States to publish an advisory in early 2021 called Protecting Youth Mental Health, there was already a mental […]
New Directions: The Lived Experience of Self-Harm in Teenage Girls
Understanding the Intricacies of Self-Harm in Teen Girls For people who have never engaged in self-harm, the behavior is difficult to understand. When a parent learns their teenage child engages in self-harm, their first response is most often shock. Quickly followed by fear and worry. Anger may be part of the mix, too. A parent […]
Effectiveness of Outpatient Treatment for Suicidal Adolescents
Are Outpatient Treatment Programs for Suicidal Teens Safe and Effective? Suicide has become a serious problem among adolescents and young adults in the United States. Suicide is one of a cluster of behaviors that have increased over the past twenty years. When mental health professionals talk about suicide as a teen health crisis, they include […]
Effective Outpatient Treatment in Preventing Adolescent Suicide and Self-Harm
What Type of Outpatient Treatment Works Best? In 2014, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released an astonishing report. That year, suicide became the second leading cause of death for people ages 10-24. Then, in 2017, they revised that finding to define adolescent suicide as the second leading cause of death for ages 15-19. For […]