If Your Adolescent Has Schizophrenia

Discusses warning signs, diagnosis, treatments, and daily handling of schizophrenia in adolescents and provides advice from parents.

During his second semester at college, Kurt Snyder became convinced that he was about to discover a fabulously important mathematical principle, spending hours lost in daydreams about numbers and symbols. In time, his thoughts took a darker turn, and he became preoccupied with the idea that cars were following him, or that strangers wanted to harm him. Kurt's mind had been hijacked by schizophrenia, a severe mental disorder that typically strikes during the late teen or young adult years. In Me, Myself, and Them, Kurt, now an adult, looks back from the vantage point of recovery and eloquently describes the debilitating changes in thoughts and perceptions that took hold of his life during his teens and twenties. As a memoir, this book is remarkable for its unvarnished look at the slow and difficult process of coming back from severe mental illness. Yet Kurt's memoir is only half the story. With the help of psychiatrist Raquel E. Gur, M.D., Ph.D., and veteran science writer Linda Wasmer Andrews, Kurt paints the big picture for others affected by adolescent schizophrenia. Drawing on the latest scientific and medical evidence, he explains how to recognize warning signs, where to find help, and what treatments have proved effective. Kurt also offers practical advice on topics of particular interest to young people, such as suggestions on managing the illness at home, school, and work, and in relationships with family and friends. Part of the Adolescent Mental Health Initiative series of books written specifically for teens and young adults, My, Myself, and Them offers hope to young people who are struggling with schizophrenia, helping them to understand and manage the challenges of this illness and go on to lead healthy lives.

The authoritative guide to understanding and helping a teenager with depression. While coping with teenage moodiness can be difficult under any circumstances, it can be especially challenging if a teenager has a serious mood disorder. This concise, readable book is the definitive guide to understanding and getting effective help for adolescents with depression, designed for parents and other adults in contact with afflicted teens. It combines the most current scientific expertise available today--including the newest treatments and medications and the latest research findings on depression--with no-nonsense, hands-on advice from parents who have faced this mood disorder in their own children. Among other topics, the book addresses the roots of depression, red flags to look out for, treatment options for young people, and practical strategies for helping a teen cope at home and at school. It concludes on a hopeful note, by reviewing the latest scientific evidence on treating depression. A growing body of research now shows that early diagnosis and treatment of depression may reduce the severity of the disease, both now and in the future. Including chapters on sex, drugs, and social media, and life after high school, this book will provide the information and tools parents need to help adolescents achieve the best possible outcome.

Adolescents (ages 12-20) with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are at risk for academic problems, strained relationships, peer rejection and unsafe behavior -- and parents are often at a loss for how to handle these challenges. If Your Adolescent Has ADHD: An Essential Resource for Parents provides the up-to-date information and down-to-earth support that parents need. It offers an in-depth look at causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and parenting strategies. Contrary to what was once believed, ADHD that starts earlier in childhood usually persists into the teen years. Yet even experienced parents are often caught unawares by the fresh challenges that adolescence brings. This book is one of the few to address ADHD in the context of teen friendships, dating, curfews and sports and extracurricular activities. It also offers practical advice from a leading psychologist on determining readiness to drive and instilling good homework and study habits. This book is a readable, reliable guide to evidence-based treatments for ADHD including behavioral therapy, medications, and educational interventions. Some approaches, such as school-based mentoring, have been little discussed in other parenting books. The authors also offer effective behavioral strategies that can be used at home, including communication and negotiation, problem solving, rewards, strategic punishments and behavioral contracts; and advice for older adolescents on dealing with college, work, and moving away from home.

"This is the second edition of an authoritative guide to help parents determine whether their adolescent has an eating disorder and how to get treatment. This edition expands the first edition's coverage of Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa and provides comprehensive information on eating disorders newly described in DSM-5 including Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID) and Binge-Eating Disorder. The authors, internationally recognized authorities, review recent research on the causes of eating disorders and new methods to prevent and treat them. The book is written in easy-to-understand language and includes practical wisdom from parents who have been in the trenches raising teens with eating disorders"--

THE MOST UP-TO-DATE INFORMATION ON: SOCIAL ANXIETY DISORDER, GENERALIZED ANXIETY DISORDER, OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER, AND POST-TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER.

An in-depth look at prevalent anxiety disorders in adolescents, this book is designed for parents of teens who have recently been diagnosed with or who are at risk for developing such a disorder. It is also for other adults, such as teachers and guidance counsellors, who are regularly in contact with at-risk adolescents. The book combines scientific expertise - including information about available treatments and up-to-date research findings on anxiety disorders-with the practical wisdom of parents who have raised teenagers with these illnesses. In clear and ccessible language, Dr Edna B. Foa and Linda Wasmer Andrews explain in detail each of the four major anxiety disorders (social anxiety disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and post-traumatic stress disorder).

Schizophrenia is a chronic disorder that impacts a broad range of a person's social and developmental functioning. Until the recent past, most of the research done on schizophrenia did not include children or adolescents who suffer from the disorder. During adolescence, important changes take place in brain development. These changes make adolescence a period of both vulnerability and opportunity. Emergence of psychosis and schizophrenia may be associated with abnormal brain development during adolescence. This book discusses the findings of studies that focus on abnormal brain development during the premorbid period of psychosis and schizophrenia. Cognitive neuroscience constructs of visuospatial memory and working memory are associated with adult- and adolescent-onset schizophrenia. This book reviews the existing literature on the topic and explores the nature of and association between visuospatial memory in adolescent onset schizophrenia. The prevalence of psychotic symptoms in the general population, particularly in children and adolescents, is also explored. The significance of psychotic symptoms in relation to psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety, and its relation to social factors, such as childhood abuse is examined. To deal with schizophrenic young patients in a hospital, psychoanalytical psychotherapeutic "teamwork" is reviewed. The transference relation between patient and therapist, and what it entails, is also discussed.