New Year Ritual

Continuing my theme about the importance of celebration and rituals in our lives, and especially involving teens in holiday rituals, here is a suggestion for a New Years Eve tradition. All you will need is a bowl, preferably metal, a pen, and paper. Flash paper works the best - it is the paper magicians use that bursts into flames and leaves no residue - very cool. Flash paper is available at some magic stores, but is also illegal in some counties because of its flammability. If you order it via the Internet, leave a couple days to dry it - it comes wet - as to not freak the postal workers out when it bursts into flame.

Start now and tell the kids what you want to do on New Years Eve. Ask everyone in the family to make three lists of all 1) the blessings they appreciated in 2006; 2) the things they experienced in 2006 that they hope they never have to endure again; and 3) the hopes and expectations they have for 2007. Remind everyone that these are private and no one should read the other's lists.

When New Years Eve gets here, have the kids write each of the things on their lists on a separate piece of the flash paper, and fold them so no one can read them. Then, once it is really dark, go outside and over the bowl, with a hose standing by in case things get out-of-hand (sorry - I am an old Girl Scout Leader), take turns burning the paper - start with the bad and end with the good!

When we do this together it brings back memories and fun stories. We usually hold hands while the burning ashes die down, and then we go about the evening - usually with a special dinner and a movie, or neighbors and "poppers" at midnight. They are available at party stores - the kind you pull the string on and the confetti streamers blow out. We love to decorate the trees that have lost their leaves with the streamers becasue in the morning sun they shimmer.

Remember to tell everyone in your family how much you love them and appreciate them in your life! Welcome 2007!

Photo credit: A spiritual oddity

Labels: Holidays

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Blessings for the Holidays

I am off to practice what I preach and spend seven wonderful sun-filled days with my daughters! I will not be posting until after 1/2/07.

2006 has been an amazing year for me. Please accept my thanks for reading my blog and for your comments and great ideas. I hope that together, in 2007, we can touch the lives of teens in positive and nurturing ways - guiding them emotionally, physically, and socially toward the lives they want to lead as adults.

I encourage each of you to take a moment this holiday season and look at the teen in your life - marvel at their strength, compassion, joy, skills, and dreams. Teens are magical and deserve every bit of the support we give them - and are probably worth each of the exasperated sighs and grey hairs, too!

Blessings and wishes for health, happiness and harmony!

Photo credit: conceptvessel

Labels: Holidays

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Misuse of Stimulants

Substance misuse and abuse affect a large percentage of US high school students. Alcohol abuse and illicit drug use often receive more attention, but there is a growing concern on the misuse of prescription stimulant medications often prescribed for the treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The intention of this post is to help parents and educators understand: the prevalence of stimulant misuse/abuse among high school students; the potential long- and short-term consequences of stimulant misuse/abuse; and the presenting signs and symptoms of stimulant misuse/abuse.

The Prevalence
The prevalence of prescription stimulant misuse among high school students has grown in recent years, as students turn to drugs to stay awake for extended study periods, lose weight, and/or to enhance the effects of alcohol or other drugs. A study reported by McCabe, et al., in 2004 reported that 4.5% of students in grades six through eleven had misused stimulants, and that those students were also more likely to have used drugs and alcohol.

The Potential Consequences
High school students misusing stimulants may be unaware of the possible adverse effects which can include insomnia, anorexia, psychosis and the potential for addiction. Addiction will include the need for larger and larger doses of the stimulant, increasing the risks associated with use.

In addition, if the pills are crushed and snorted, the stimulants can cause nasal damage and nosebleeds. Dissolving the stimulants in water and injecting the resulting solution can cause pulmonary embolism - a blockage of an artery carrying blood to the lungs, which can be fatal - as well as retinal damage, which causes blurred vision or vision loss. Finally, there is a risk of overdosing.

The Presenting Signs and Symptoms
The behavioral manifestations of stimulant misuse are likely to be apparent to parents and teachers who know what to look for. Students illicitly using stimulants may have the following symptoms:

• Anxiety and panic attacks;
• Anorexia;
• Confusion;
• Depression;
• Increased pulse rate and blood pressure;
• Increased wakefulness and physical activity;
• Dizziness;
• Irritability;
• Memory loss;
• Paranoia and aggressive outbursts;
• Tremors and convulsions; and
• Worsening academic performance.

Final words: be aware and talk to your kids, especially those taking ADHD medications.

Photo credit: naughton321

Labels: Substance Abuse

Permalink | 2 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

The Importance of Touch and Teens

Unfortunately, as our teens get older, there is a tendency for them to get less affectionate with us and for us to forget to be affectionate with them. OK - I admit, sometimes affection is the last thing we are feeling toward our teen after a long day, but sometimes I think we just forget. In addition, as adults, there seems to be a tendency to receive less and less touch, and we may associate touch only with sexuality, forgetting how important human touch is to overall well-being.

We all need human touch, and it has been used for centuries to help heal people - emotionally and physically. We have all seen the bumper stickers, "Have you hugged your child today?" Which is a good reminder. As teens grow, we have to consciously find ways to connect with them, and touch them in ways that feel good to them and are appropriate.

A hug and a kiss at school drop off is probably not going to go over very well, but if you offer the kiss as they leave the house, it might work. Bedtime is another great time to share a cup of tea, talk, cuddle and just give them a hug - everyone is more receptive when tired and not in a hurry. If touch is hard to integrate into your relationship with your teen, you can try giving him or her a facial, or rubbing their feet, hands, neck, or back.

Another option is learning about Reiki (pronounced ray-key), which is a Japanese form of healing that is becoming popular worldwide. Reiki involves the transfer of energy from one person to another to enhance the body's natural ability to heal itself through the balancing of energy. This might sound a little loose, but basically, it is a laying of hands upon another person and it can bring about deep relaxation and make people feel energized. The idea is that the person being touched will draw energy from the person touching them.

If you realize you are not touching your teen - you can introduce the idea of adding more touch into your relationship by acknowledging that you feel less connected and want a way to spend more time touching him or her, and helping them feel loved. You can also tell them you read about Reiki and want to try just laying your hands on their shoulders or head for 5 minutes while they study or watch TV - then ask if they feel any better. If you both take slow deep breaths, it is likely to make you both feel better.

Happy touching!

Photo credit: mahalie

Labels: Parenting

Permalink | 1 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Harassment and Bullying: Not a Rite of Passage

For many generations, people have thought of school bullying as an inevitable rite of passage and that it helped us all learn how to "stand up for ourselves" and deal with the "real world." This is no longer the case. The law is very clear that school districts must prevent harassment of students and take action when it occurs.

We now know that youth who are bullied do less well in school and experience more stress than peers who are not bullied. With responses from nearly 32,000 high school students in 15 urban school districts, the National School Boards Association found that 50% of students report seeing other students being bullied at least once a month. Talk to your kids about bullying at school and ask what they experience or see. Find out what your district policy is and encourage your child to report any bullying.

Schools are now responsible for educating youth that physical, emotional, and cyber-bullying will not be tolerated. There are many resources available to teachers, schools, and parents to help kids recognize and stop bullying. My favorites include the Bully Book for young kids, the Bullying Module for 4th and 5th grade classrooms, and the Bullying Fact Sheet for Teens.

Along with knowing what bullying is happening, you can also talk to your child about why bullying is never OK and the kinds of values you expect your child to share about respect. Character education is a big part of bullying prevention, and there are many preteens who truly do not understand that exclusion and ignoring certain kids are forms of bullying.

Photo credit: snipperhands

Labels: Bullying

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Hormonal Contraception and HIV Risk

The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) released a press release 12/7/06 saying that the results of a large study commissioned by the National Institutes of Health report that "hormonal contraception does not appear to increase HIV risk."

The study, Hormonal Contraception and the Risk of HIV Acquisition, published in the January 2007 issue of "AIDS," followed thousands of women (aged 18 to 35) in Uganda, Zimbabwe, and Thailand and compared their patterns of contraceptive use to their risk of infection with HIV. The study was done to overcome the limitations of previous studies attempting to report the risk of HIV infection associated with hormonal contraceptives.

Although hormonal contraception (most commonly the pill and depo shot) provides an effective means of pregnancy prevention, it does not protect against HIV or other sexually transmitted infections. There are 100 million women around the world using hormonal contraception and 18 million women have been infected with HIV, mostly during heterosexual relations.

When this study ended, more African women had tested positive for HIV than Thai women, in part because the Thai government mandates the use of condoms in the country's brothels, greatly reducing the heterosexual rates of infection. The conclusions of this study suggest that women who use hormonal contraception are also using barrier methods to protect themselves from sexually transmitted infections, including HIV.

It is important when talking with teens about contraception and HIV risk to remind them that they need to protect themselves from both unwanted pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection. "Dual protection" is using a reliable method of birth control as well as a barrier method, like condoms, to protect from disease.

Photo credit: Gnarls Monkey

Labels: HIV

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Media Multitasking Among Young People

The Kaiser Family Foundation released a new report last week entitled "Media Multitasking Among American Youth: Prevalence, Predictors and Pairings" based on data from seven-day media use diaries from 694 young people 8to 18 years old. The data was collected from October 2003 through March 2004 as part of the Generation M study.

Every mom understands multitasking - it is how we manage to make it through the day. However, more and more teens and even tweens are now learning they can get more done by doing multiple things at once, usually involving media. Although there is no research focused specifically on the effects of multitasking, conventional wisdom and brain research suggests there are limits to how much our brains can process at once.

I also would like to suggest that multitasking limits our comprehension because there are fewer brain resources directed at each activity. In addition, I am very concerned that the stimulation from the media use will limit self-reflection and creativity.

What is media multitasking?
Media multitasking is using more than one medium at a time. For example, reading a magazine while watching TV, listening to music while playing a video game, etc... Youth are most likely to multitask when they are instant messaging and surfing the internet.

How many kids are doing it?
In a typical week, 81% of young people spend some of their media time using more than one medium at a time. Girls are more likely to media multitask than boys.

What are they doing?
When young people are reading, playing computer games or looking at websites, most (2/3) tend to be doing something else, as well (eating, doing chores, talking on the phone, instant messaging, doing homework, or using other media). However, this is not true when they are watching TV or playing video games (less than 45%).

Many teens (65%) use media while doing their homework, especially if they are doing homework on the computer. Listening to music at the same time is the most common behavior.

What can parents do to reduce the media multitasking of youth?
Have the TV on less. Do not be a multiple TV household. Never watch TV during meals. keep the computer and TV physically separate.

Photo credit: sparklefish

Labels: Media

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Grand Rounds 3.13 Thank You

I would like to thank Mother Jones from Nurse Ratched's Place for hosting this week's wonderful Grand Rounds 3.13 and including my post on encouraging teens to be involved in the holidays.

Holiday Blessings!


Photo credit: ajbear

Labels: Grand Rounds

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Parent-Child Connectedness

We hear a lot of about the importance of being connected to our teens, but I am not sure most parents understand exactly what "being connected" means. In addition, there are many things that are required before parents can actually behave in a connected way. This post is meant to help parents and teachers understand the determinants of the behaviors that help parent-child connectedness.

Parent-child connectedness is a condition characterized by an emotional bond between a parent and a child that is both mutual and sustained over time. Parent-child connectedness is something that protects young people from the many challenges and risks facing them in today's world, including tobacco use, depression, eating disorders, pregnancy, and HIV infection.

The specific parent behaviors include:

• Provide for basic physiological needs;
• Build and maintain trust;
• Demonstrate love, care and affection;
• Share activity;
• Prevent, negotiate and resolve family conflicts;
• Establish and maintain structure (establish expectations, conduct effective monitoring, conduct effective discipline, and use positive reinforcement); and
• Communicate effectively (Receive messages effectively, understand messages, and send messages effectively).

In order to provide for basic physiological needs, parents must:

• Understand the basic nutritional, clothing, shelter, healthcare, mental & physical needs of their preteens and teens, including how these needs change over time;
• Know where to access services for providing basic needs;
• Have the skills necessary to overcome any barriers to access; and
• Have support for their parenting including family, friends, neighbors, professionals, community-level support like church, or other support networks.

In order to build and maintain trust, parents must:

• Believe that trust is important in relationships;
• Understand the function of trust in healthy relationships;
• Understand the components of trust include honesty, commitment, openness, confidentiality, patience, loyalty, consistency, respect, avoiding humiliation, listening, forgiveness, and providing emotional support in the form of encouragement, nurturing, love, and affection;
• Use parental power and influence appropriately;
• Apologize when appropriate;
• Demonstrate respect for your child by expressing pride in and appreciation for your child; and
• Understand how their own childhoods are influencing their parenting.

In order to demonstrate love, care and affection, parents must:

• Learn what does and doesn't feel loving and affectionate to your child (through discussion and observation);
• Understand that showing love and caring include expressing physical and verbal affection, doing special things for your child, being consistent and loving, and building trust;
• Hugs, kisses, snuggling, saying "I love you," holding hands, etc.. that are age appropriate and feel "right" to your children;
• Do special things for your child including cards, gifts, special meals, and one-to-one time;
• Make love and affection unconditional;
• Express love, care and affection equally among siblings;
• Model love and affection in other relationships; and
• Recognize and deal with your own barriers to giving and receiving love, care and affection.

In order to share activity, parents must:

• Find a time for regular shared activity (and watching TV does not count);
• Be well enough physically and emotionally to share activities with your child;
• Learn what shared activities your child enjoys and negotiate differences in interests between yourself and your child;
• Recognize the value of "down time" for shared activity;
• Understand the value of "connective" shared activity, including laughter, humor, playfulness, creating together, and patience;
• Recognize the value of ritual including the celebration of milestones, traditions, cultural and religious events as shared activity; and
• Recognize and problem-solve teens' experience of negative social pressure to spend time with parents.

In order to prevent, negotiate and resolve conflicts, parents must:

• Learn and use conflict resolution skills including: establishing ground rules, negotiating and making decisions jointly, focusing on common ground, compromising, apologizing and forgiving;
• Learn and use conflict prevention skills including: family meetings, parent admitting mistakes, asking teens' opinions, being clear and reasonable, and having fair and consistent rules;
• Understand teens need more autonomy as they grow older, and give it to them (in the form of work ethics, money management, pet care, making appointments, planning and scheduling, and time management);
• Be aware of and model healthy, non-violent, non-aggressive, constructive methods for releasing stress, anger and frustration;
• Recognize and be able to control the effect of outside conflict (with spouse, relatives, and child's siblings) on your relationship with your child;
• Understand contributors to conflict (e.g., not following through with agreements, chores not being done, conflicts between parent-child); and
• Ability to monitor child's behavior without nagging.

In order to establish and maintain structure, parents must:

• Believe that providing structure by establishing expectations, monitoring, and disciplining are important to healthy parent-child relationships;
• Be aware of your expectations of your child and avoid imposing your own tastes and preferences;
• Understand adolescent development, especially a teen's increased need for autonomy in relation to realistic expectations;
• Develop and communicate expectations that are clear, specific, consistent, realistic, and fair;
• Negotiate the amount of structure and the scheduling of teen's out-of-school time;
• Establish short- and long-term goals for achievement with your child;
• Negotiate and use joint decision-making and provide rationale for rules;
• Grant autonomy effectively, teaching values about work, money, planning, and time mangement;
• Know who your teen is spending time with, their personal interests, and risk-taking behaviors;
• Help your teen find and participate in structured, monitored activities;
• Use shared activities that double as monitoring (e.g., completing homework together, "down time" discussions, transporting teens to outside activities, and observing peers);
• Believe that the purpose of discipline is for teaching and not for punishment or penitence;
• Establish a set of consequences that are clear, consistent, and/or natural consequences;
• Negotiate consequences with teen;
• Depersonalize discipline and talk about behavior without blaming or judging the child's self-worth;
• Provide praise, privileges and rewards for positive behavior in a consistent manner and with equal or greater frequency than negative reinforcement/punishment;
• Express confidence in the child's cpapabilities, specifically the child's ability to behave positively; and
• Publicly affirming and displaying tokens of your child's accomplishments (e.g., hang report card on the refrigerator).

In order to communicate effectively, parents must:

• Know that there are three components of communication - receiving, understanding, and sending messages;
• Demonstrate openness by initiating conversations, being availalbe, using welcoming and positive body language, being patient, inviting opinions, and valuing child's feelings; and
• Be open-minded.

For more Information
Rolleri, L., Bean, S., and Ecker, N. (2006): A Logic Model of Parent-Child Connectedness: Using the Behavior-Determinant-Intervention (BDI) Logic Model to Identify Parent Behaviors necessary for Connectedness with Teen Children. Santa Cruz, CA ETR Associates.

Photo Credit: FUEL Camera Lady

Labels: Parenting

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

College Admissions: Who is Good Enough?

I have to say that I am very concerned about the stress that high school seniors are experiencing this very minute about getting in to college. As parents and professionals, we are giving a lot of lip service to connecting with youth, making time for play and family, involving teens in the community, not overscheduling our children, reducing the amount of stress teens experience related to academic success and accomplishment, however, the college admission staff do not seem to be listening.

I spent a portion of yesterday trying to comfort a senior from a private boys school with seven AP classes, who was rejected by an ivy league school (who shall remain nameless) in spite of having a GPA above 4, SATs scores of all 700 and above, AP exam scores of 5, more than 1,100 hours of community service, is the recipient of five grants, the founder of a community service project, has done research with faculty at that university, has been a varsity tennis player, peer tutor, elected into student government multiple times, editor of the school paper, and on the yearbook staff.

Not only was this teen not accepted, he was not even deferred - and the FAQ attached to the letter suggested that the decision was based on a lack of academic promise. Can someone tell me that if that preparation was not enough - what would have helped this kid get into college as an early admission? There were 3,500 other students who were rejected yesterday by this same university and got the same message - in spite of the drive, the work, and the success, you are not good enough!

To all of you high school seniors with outstanding grades, community service records, athletic and musical accomplishments, and parents that have nurtured and supported your goals - my blessing and heart-felt sorrow that you do not feel honored and successful! May you each find an institution where you will grow and develop into people who help stop this crazy inflation of what success means! You are wonderful and what truly matters is your belief in yourself! Do not let anyone make you feel "less than" another person. You will succeed! Manage your stress and good luck.

To all of the professionals involved in college admissions - please be kind and remember there are 16 - 18 year old hearts and dreams attached to those applications.

Photo credit: cam b.

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

The Teenage Brain

Ever wonder why some teens do not seem very competent at long-term planning, empathy, or in-depth conversation? Ever feel like you are asking for some introspection and quizzing your child about how they feel and getting an blank slate? If so, it will not help to nag or worse, scream, just blame it on their neocortex -- the part of the human brain responsible for language, planning, empathy, and executive functions. The neocortex has not fully developed, so teens rely more on the amygdala, the gut-instinct part of the brain that manages emotions and memories associated with emotion - dah!

This particular developmental fact suggests that teens are not great at reading emotions on a face, either. A long frustrating day can show on your face without them getting the first clue that this would not be the night to ask for something special and forget to pick up their shoes. Their brains are undergoing a major neurological tune-up, and "I don't know" may be very honest and the best answer you will get to many questions including, "how could you forget," "where is it," "why isn't it done," or my favorite, "why did you do that?"

If you want to read more, there is a book called "Engaging Tweens and Teens: A Brain-Compatible Approach to Reading Middle and High School Students" by Raleigh Philip, at Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology. Philip suggests that parents and teachers be both patient and persistent. The point at which tweens or teens withdraw and ask to be left alone is precisely when it is the most important to engage them.

Philip suggests that we all recognize that most kids cannot be consistent. One day they love you, one day you are the enemy - that is reality. The assurance that you are doing OK as a parent will not come from your teen. This inconsistency can be found in their school work, too, and teachers and parents cannot assume that the instructions and expectations we feel are clear actually made it into the kid's brain without a major shift in interpretation.

Here are some classic examples:
Teen 1: Mom, I did the wrong page of homework in Math.
Mom 1: Well, put your name on it and the page number, and turn it in, too.
several minutes later
Mom 1: Why aren't you doing your Math homework?
Teen 1: I did enough Math.
Mom 1: You did the wrong page, now you have to do the right page.
Teen 1: That is ridiculous - I already did Math.

Another example:
Mom 2: This progress report says you have a quiz not completed - what's up?
Teen 2: I missed it the day I was sick.
Mom 2: Don't they do make-up tests on Friday after school?
Teen 2: Yeah, but I forgot to go last week, so she gave me the test to complete at home.
Mom 2: And yet, this says it is not done.
Teen 2: I could not do it because I lost my book.
Mom 2: Have you checked lost and found?
Teen 2: No.
Mom 2: (Now in a controlled squeak) What is the plan for getting it done?
Teen 2: I don't know.

The advice I have is "be patient," do not take this personally, do not assume the behaviors reflect a lack of caring, and take these situations on as an opportunity to provide a little character education. Explain why the teacher is probably annoyed beyond belief and feels disrespected by having to put so much energy into helping the teen make up the quiz.

Remember that the brain of a 12 - 14 year old is going through the same level of change it did at two or three - there are bunches of neurons that are being pruned away (the unused ones) or strung together into their neural network as a result of experience. This is when your teen really needs you!

Unfortunately it is at the time when it might be much easier to let them go sit in front of TV all day and ignore them, which will be the worst possible thing for the development of their brains We need to not give up. We need to encourage them to participate in things at school and then attend everything, find leisure activities to do with them, talk with them about character, spirituality, and politics. Engage them in music, drag them to the arts, travel with them, get those neurons firing!

Photo credit: Michael Waterston

Permalink | 1 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Eating Disorder Support on the Web

Parents beware! According to researchers who surveyed the Internet viewing habits of 76 patients diagnosed with eating disorders, there are Internet Web sites that promote anorexia and bulimia as acceptable and even desirable life styles. Adolescents ages 13-to-19 are the most likely to visit these sites and half of them are looking for ways to lose weight. Many of these sites include images of thin women to inspire their visitors and include weight loss advice, strategies to avoid detection by family members, and links to other sites.

Recent articles in Health and Health Care in Schools and Pediatrics described the results of the study which collected anonymous data and reported that 41% of the patients visited pro-recovery sites, 35.5% visited pro-eating disorder sites, 25% visited both, and 48.7% visited neither. While visiting pro-eating disorder sites, 96% reported learning new weight loss or purging techniques, as did 46.4% of pro-recovery site visitors.

There were also 106 parents surveyed and 52.8% reported awareness of the pro-eating disorder sites but an equal number did not know whether their child visited these sites, and only 27.6% had discussed them with her child. Most (62.5%) parents however, did not know about pro-recovery sites. The researchers reported that most parents did not limit time spent or restrict access to certain sites on the Internet, reflecting a lack of awareness on the part of parents.

Photo credit: Tiny Dancer

Labels: Eating Disorders

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

New Hampshire is the First State to Offer Free HPV Vaccine

New Hampshire announced recently that it will become the first state to offer the new HPV vaccine free to all girls ages 11 to 18. There are approximately 68,000 eligible girls in Hew Hampshire and the state has budgeted $4.8 million dollars for the vaccine in 2007.

The FDA approved the vaccine (Gardasil) in June for girls as young as 9. It prevents infection from some of the strains of HPV, a sexually transmitted virus, that can cause cervical cancer, the #2 cancer killer of women. This vaccine will not protect people who are already infected, but can prevent girls who have not been infected.

Photo credit: rcmori1981

Labels: HPV

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Grand Rounds 3.11 Thank You

I would like to thank Emily DeVoto from The Antidote: Counterspin for Health Care and Health News for hosting this week's Grand Rounds and including my post on Providing Plan B for women under 18.


Photo credit: ajbear

Labels: Grand Rounds

Permalink | 0 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Support for Depressed Parents of Teens

I had a request from someone this week to help locate support for parents who are depressed and parenting a teen and what I found was pretty dismal. I am hoping that if readers of Teen Health 411 know of any online support groups for depressed parents, that you will post a comment and share that information with us.

I did find some great resources (listed below) about depression, and there are support groups for parents - for parent with depressed teens, kids with ADHD, and developmental delayed kids, as well as support groups for single parents, Jewish parents, divorced parents, etc... but no online support for parents who are depressed and managing to parent teens, in some cases, quite successfully.

Resources
Support Groups for Depression
dmoz open directory project - support groups

dmoz open directory project - chats and forums

Other Groups
Depressed Moms
Good information, maybe a little more appropriate for new moms.

Support Partners
Is a program to help people find the support they need.

National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)
NIMH is the primary funding and information disseminating arm for depression-related research in the United States.

This is the NIMH portal to information on depression: signs and symptoms, treatment, and how to get help.

Real Men Real Depression gives examples of men who had the courage to seek help

Depression and Women, this web page also addresses gender-related differences in diagnosis and treatment

Depression and Children - information useful to parents, students, and others is provided in the site’s links, as well as the latest information related to the use of medications in treating depressed children, including an advisory from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

More Resources (suggested since original post was published)
Parenting Well
A group of researchers and practitioners providing resources for healthy families.

Photo credit: ollyfarrell

Labels: Parenting

Permalink | 3 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment

Plan B Available to Teens One Way or the Other

As previously mentioned in a post, the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B, also known as the morning after pill because you can take it up to 72 hours after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy, is beginning to be available at pharmacies. However, in all its wisdom, the FDA restricted over-the-counter sale of Plan B to women over the age of 18, leaving teens needing a visit to a doctor and a prescription.

The New York Times recently ran a story by Sarah Feightner about an online network of men and women willing to purchase Plan B for teens who need it, no questions asked. Emergency Contraception for Minors is a group of birth control advocates on the social networking Web site Facebook. Since it was created in September, it has more than 160 members in 25 states who have all agreed to buy Plan B for women under 18. Another Facebook group, the Emergency Contraceptive Network has more than 100 members, and those who want to be anonymous can sign up as "Jane" at another Web site, emergencykindness.net which received more than 200 applications from people wanting to help during its first week.

Members of these networks are mostly young women motivated by personal experience as well as political beliefs. There are other barriers to teens using Plan B - it can cost $25 to $40 for a single dose of two pills - and pharmacies do not have to stock the drug. I am unclear what penalties will be imposed for undermining the FDA age restriction, which was enacted against the recommendation of an FDA advisory panel.

Photo credit: Barr Pharmaceuticals

Labels: Emergency Contraception

Permalink | 2 Comments| Email Post

Post your comment