from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)

Statistics on eating disorders and teen body image:

• 42% of 1st-3rd grade girls want to be thinner (Collins, 1991).
• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat (Mellin et al., 1991).
• The average American woman is 5’4″ tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11″ tall and weighs 117 pounds.
• Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women (Smolak, 1996).
• 51% of 9 and 10 year-old girls feel better about themselves if they are on a diet (Mellin et al., 1991).
• 46% of 9-11 year-olds are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets, and
• 82% of their families are “sometimes” or “very often” on diets (Gustafson-Larson & Terry, 1992).
• 91% of women recently surveyed on a college campus had attempted to control their weight through dieting, 22% dieted “often” or “always” (Kurth et al., 1995).
• 95% of all dieters will regain their lost weight in 1-5 years (Grodstein, 1996).
• 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders (Shisslak & Crago, 1995).
• 25% of American men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day (Smolak, 1996).
• Americans spend over $40 billion on dieting and diet-related products each year (Smolak, 1996).

Wilderness therapy is an experiential program that takes place in a wilderness or remote outdoor setting. Programs provide counseling, therapy, education, leadership training and primitive living challenges that foster community and group interdependence as well as individual honesty, awareness, openness, responsibility and accountability. The terms wilderness therapy, wilderness program and outdoor behavioral health program are commonly used to mean the same thing.

Wilderness therapy, in the purest form, is a positive growth experience where teens face natural challenges and adversities that are designed to be therapeutic in nature. Children are not merely thrown into the wilderness and made to suffer hardships. They are removed from their environment, encouraged, challenged and given every opportunity to succeed. The activities in these programs include:

• primitive living
• outdoor education
• structured daily activities
• team building
• experiential therapy
• counseling
• individual therapy
• group therapy
• exploration
• expeditions
• natural consequences for actions taken

Credits:

Michael Conner, Psy.D
Mentor Research Institute
June 25, 2007

Sourced From:

Wilderness Therapy Treatment- A non-profit consumer protection information, health, safety, referral & education site.

The Juvenile Justice System was instituted during the Progressive Era, a period of social reform in the U.S. It was initially designed to assist vagrant youth that were being dealt with within the adult system. Since that time it has been effected by numerous policy and philosophy changes. The landmark policy that established the system we currently operate under was the 1974 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.

The Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act called for a “deinstitutionalization” of juvenile delinquents. It required that states holding youth within adult prisons for status offenses remove them within a span of two years (this timeframe was adjusted over time). The act also provided program grants to states, based on their youth populations, and created the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP).

Through reauthorization amendments, additional programs have been added to the original Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act. The following list highlights a few of these additions:

• 1977 – Programs were developed to assist learning disabled children that entered the juvenile justice system.
• 1984 – A new missing and exploited children program was added.
• 1984 – Strong support was given to programs that strengthened families.
• 1988 – Studies on prison conditions within the Indian justice system were called for.
• 1990 – The OJJDP began funding child abuse training programs to instruct judicial personnel and prosecutors.
• 1992 – A juvenile boot camp program was designed to introduce delinquent youth to a lifestyle of structure and discipline.
• 1992 – A community prevention grants program gave start-up money to communities for local juvenile crime prevention plans.

Source.

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Teen and Family Counseling Center (TFCC), a non profit agency, is dedicated to helping adults, families, and children feel better, interact better, and develop healthier skills for a better life.

As a leading provider of mental health services for over 22 years, our agency integrates community-based resources with our unique expertise to help ensure the highest quality of therapeutic service.

Our highly trained and supervised staff of Marriage and Family Therapist Interns provide confidential, professional counseling services to individuals, couples, children and families, as well as group counseling, workshops, classes and seminars on a variety of issues throughout the year.

TFCC always strives to offer affordable, exceptional counseling services and programs designed to support and improve the health, relationships, and lives of all Bay Area families and residents.

Visit their official website here.

An article worth sharing: “A Cut Above, The Practice of Self-Mutilation” by Carma Haley Shoemaker

A disturbing situation has emerged among teens: the practice of self-mutilation. Teenagers who self-mutilate – overwhelmingly girls – are inflicting pain and injuries on their own bodies. While it’s estimated that only one percent of the American population self-mutilates, the emotional issues that drive them – and the physical fall-out from such practices as cutting and burning – make self-mutilation a serious problem.

Types of Self-Mutilation
Cutting is but one of the self-mutilating behaviors adolescents may exhibit. Other common practices of self-mutilating behaviors include burning, bruising, breaking of bones (especially digits), picking at the skin or “wound interference” (the practice of producing a wound and not allowing it to heal).

What Causes Self-Mutilation?
There is no stereotypical person who will choose to mutilate his or her own body, but experts say it’s a process that stems from the inability to deal with stress or intense emotions.

“Self-mutilation is a desperate attempt to have some control over unbearable feelings of aloneness, loneliness and helplessness,” says Dr. Margaret Paul, therapist and co-author of Healing Your Aloneness, a book that examines self-mutilation. “When a teen or young adult has not learned healthy ways of managing these intense feelings, they turn to physical pain as a way to blot out the emotional pain or gain a sense of control over the pain they feel. In a strange way, they are really not trying to hurt themselves – they are trying to protect themselves from something even more painful than the physical pain.”
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Anxiety disorders can take many forms. You may experience free-floating anxiety without knowing exactly why you’re feeling that way. You may suffer from sudden, intense panic attacks that strike without warning. Your anxiety may come in the form of extreme social inhibition or in unwanted obsessions and compulsions. Or you may have a phobia of an object or situation that doesn’t seem to bother other people.

Despite their different forms, all anxiety disorders share one thing in common: persistent—and often overwhelming—fear or worry. The frequency and intensity of these fears can be immobilizing, distressing, and disruptive. Characteristics of an anxiety disorder include:

• Anxiety which is constant, unrelenting, and all-consuming
• Anxiety which causes self-imposed isolation or emotional withdrawal
• Anxiety which interferes with normal activities like going outside or interacting with other people

The toll an anxiety disorder takes on your life can lead to other problems as well, such as low self-esteem, depression, and alcoholism. Anxiety can also negatively impact your work and your personal relationships. But the good news is that anxiety disorders are highly treatable. With the help of a qualified mental health professional, you can get relief from your worries and lead the life that you want.

credits.

Finally, an organization that helps those have an eating disorder!

The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA) is the largest nonprofit organization in the United States working to eliminate eating disorders. They serve the needs of communities throughout the US by providing programs, products and services of superior quality that work to prevent, treat and find a cure for eating disorders.

NEDA is dedicated to expanding public understanding of eating disorders and promoting access to quality treatment for those affected along with support for their families through education, advocacy and research.

The National Eating Disorders Association was formed in 2001, when Eating Disorders Awareness & Prevention (EDAP) joined forces with the American Anorexia Bulimia Association (AABA), merging the largest and oldest eating disorders prevention and advocacy organizations in the world. The merger was the most recent in a series of alliances that has also included the National Eating Disorder Organization (NEDO) and Anorexia Nervosa & Related Disorders (ANRED).

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington with an office in New York City, the organization is staffed by 10 full-time employees and many dedicated volunteers.

Visit their official website here.

Every parent wish their kids well being, especially in learning. If you are worried that your kid may be suffering from a learning disability that he or she is ‘hiding’ from you, or that you are unable to detect earlier, then it is time you find out and assess the what the real score is with your kids’ education.

Warning signs of learning disabilities in secondary school students occur as a pattern of behaviors to a significant degree over time.

They include the following:

Language/Mathematics/Social Studies

• Avoidance of reading and writing
• Tendency to misread information
• Difficulty summarizing
• Poor reading comprehension
• Difficulty understanding subject area textbooks
• Trouble with open-ended questions
• Continued poor spelling
• Poor grasp of abstract concepts
• Poor skills in writing essays
• Difficulty in learning foreign language
• Poor ability to apply math skills

Attention/Organization

• Difficulty staying organized
• Trouble with test formats,  such as multiple choice
• Slow work pace in class and in testing situations
• Poor note taking skills
• Poor ability to proofread or double check work

Social Behavior

• Difficulty accepting criticism
• Difficulty seeking or giving feedback
• Problems negotiating or advocating for oneself
• Difficulty resisting peer pressure
• Difficulty understanding another person’s perspective

What are you waiting for? Assess your teen; help your teen.

For original and full resource, please click here.

Myth: The epidemic of violent behavior that marked the early 1990s is over, and young people—as well as the rest of U.S. society—are much safer today.
Fact: Although such key indicators of violence as arrest and victimization data clearly show significant reductions in violence since the peak of the epidemic in 1993, an equally important indicator warns against concluding that the problem is solved. Self-reports by youths reveal that involvement in some violent behaviors remains at 1993 levels.

Myth: Most future offenders can be identified in early childhood.
Fact: Exhibiting uncontrolled behavior or being diagnosed with conduct disorder as a young child does not predetermine violence in adolescence. A majority of young people who become violent during their adolescent years were not highly aggressive or “out of control” in early childhood, and the majority of children with mental and behavioral disorders do not become violent in adolescence.

Myth: Child abuse and neglect inevitably lead to violent behavior later in life.
Fact: Physical abuse and neglect are relatively weak predictors of violence, and sexual abuse does not predict violence. Most children who are abused or neglected will not become violent offenders during adolescence.

Myth: African American and Hispanic youths are more likely to become involved in violence than other racial or ethnic groups.
Fact: Data from confidential interviews with youths indicate that race and ethnicity have little bearing on the overall proportion of racial and ethnic groups that engage in nonfatal violent behavior. However, there are racial and ethnic differences in homicide rates. There are also differences in the timing and continuity of violence over the life course, which account in part for the over representation of these groups in U.S. jails and prisons.

Myth: A new violent breed of young super predators threatens the United States.
Fact: There is no evidence that young people involved in violence during the peak years of the early 1990s were more frequent or more vicious offenders than youths in earlier years. The increased lethality resulted from gun use, which has since decreased dramatically. There is no scientific evidence to document the claim of increased seriousness or callousness.

Myth: Getting tough with juvenile offenders by trying them in adult criminal courts reduces the likelihood that they will commit more crimes.
Fact: Youths transferred to adult criminal court have significantly higher rates of reoffending and a greater likelihood of committing subsequent felonies than youths who remain in the juvenile justice system. They are also more likely to be victimized, physically and sexually.

Myth: Nothing works with respect to treating or preventing violent behavior.
Fact: A number of prevention and intervention programs that meet very high scientific standards of effectiveness have been identified.
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