Adolescences

Adolescenceâ€"beginning with the onset of puberty and ending in the mid-20sâ€"is a critical period of development during which key areas of the brain mature and develop. These changes in brain structure, function, and connectivity mark adolescence as a period of opportunity to discover new vistas, to form relationships with peers and adults, and to explore one's developing identity. It is also a period of resilience that can ameliorate childhood setbacks and set the stage for a thriving trajectory over the life course. Because adolescents comprise nearly one-fourth of the entire U.S. population, the nation needs policies and practices that will better leverage these developmental opportunities to harness the promise of adolescenceâ€"rather than focusing myopically on containing its risks. This report examines the neurobiological and socio-behavioral science of adolescent development and outlines how this knowledge can be applied, both to promote adolescent well-being, resilience, and development, and to rectify structural barriers and inequalities in opportunity, enabling all adolescents to flourish.

Bringing together leading authorities, this much-needed volume synthesizes current knowledge about the nature, impact, and treatment of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in the crucial developmental period of adolescence. Contributors explore the distinct challenges facing teens with ADHD as they navigate intensifying academic demands; new risks in the areas of driving, substance use, and romantic relationships; and co-occurring mental health problems. Best practices in clinical assessment are presented. Chapters on treatment--several of which include illustrative case examples--review interventions targeting motivation, executive functioning, and homework problems, as well as applications of cognitive-behavioral therapy and mindfulness. The book also examines medication issues specific to this age group.

In this much-needed guide, a clinical psychologist and a social worker provide a flexible, ten-week protocol based in acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) to help adolescents overcome mental health hurdles and thrive. If you’re a clinician working with adolescents, you understand the challenges this population faces. But sometimes it can be difficult to establish connection in therapy. To help, ACT for Adolescents offers the first effective professional protocol for facilitating ACT with adolescents in individual therapy, along with modifications for a group setting. In this book, you’ll find invaluable strategies for connecting meaningfully with your client in session, while at the same time arriving quickly and safely to the clinical issues your client is facing. You’ll also find an overview of the core processes of ACT so you can introduce mindfulness into each session and help your client choose values-based action. Using the protocol outlined in this book, you’ll be able to help your client overcome a number of mental health challenges from depression and anxiety to eating disorders and trauma. If you work with adolescent clients, the powerful and effective step-by-step exercises in this book are tailored especially for you. This is a must-have addition to your professional library. This book includes audio downloads.

This book examines changes that are likely to impact adolescents' lives and their futures as adults.

Adolescent Stress concentrates on a range of major problems--those of a normal developmental nature as well as those of poor adaptation--identified in adolescents.

From leading experts who have trained thousands of professionals in dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), this manual provides indispensable tools for treating adolescents with emotional or behavioral problems of any level of severity. Clinicians are guided step by step to teach teens and parents five sets of skills: Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Walking the Middle Path (a family-based module developed by the authors specifically for teens), Emotion Regulation, and Interpersonal Effectiveness. Designed for optimal clinical utility, the book features session outlines, teaching notes, discussion points, examples, homework assignments, and 85 reproducible handouts, in a large-size format for easy photocopying. Purchasers also get access to a Web page where they can download and print the reproducible materials. See also the authors' Dialectical Behavior Therapy with Suicidal Adolescents (with Marsha M. Linehan), which delves into skills training and other DBT components for those at highest risk.

In a large-size format for easy photocopying, this user-friendly manual presents a tested treatment protocol for children and adolescents (ages 6 to 18) struggling with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Ten flexible modules give clinicians tools for engaging kids and their parents and implementing successful exposure and response prevention activities, as well as other cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) strategies. Each module includes vivid clinical vignettes, sample scripts, “tips and tricks” drawn from the authors’ extensive experience, and numerous reproducible child and parent handouts and worksheets. Purchasers get access to a Web page where they can download and print additional copies of the reproducible materials, in color.

This book highlights assessment techniques, issues, and procedures that appeal to practicing clinicians. Rather than a comprehensive Handbook of various tests and measures, The Clinical Assessment of Children and Adolescents is a practitioner-friendly text that provides guidance for test selection, interpretation, and application. With topics ranging from personality assessment to behavioral assessment to the assessment of depression and thought disorder, the leaders in the field of child and adolescent measurement outline selection and interpretation of measures in a manner that is most relevant to clinicians and graduate students. Each chapter makes use of extensive case material in order to highlight issues of applicability.