Teen Health and Wellness

My friend confided that he was thinking of committing suicide. How do I handle this?

My parents fight a lot and sometimes I wish they would just get divorced. It's hard to live with so much yelling and tension. What should I do?

I hate my body. People always tell me that I'm skinny, but they're just trying to be nice. I don't get why they don't understand why I'm so unhappy over the way I look.

My best friend and I both applied to the same college. I got in, but she didn't and now she's avoiding me. What should I do?

My parents keep comparing me to my older brother. I'm nothing like him, but they don't listen when I tell them that. How do I get my parents to stop pressuring me?

I have a really weird problem: I cut myself. Just once in a while, and never bad. But sometimes I just get so fed up that I have to do SOMETHING—and this makes me feel better. I wish I could stop, but I can't.

My parents always say not to just follow the crowd and give in to peer pressure. You know, the whole “If they all jumped off a bridge, would you?” … But isn't it OK to go along with your friends some of the time?

I’m starting at a new school this year and I'm worried about making friends. Help!

My Mom is driving me crazy, and I feel like she watches everything I do. I want to go live with my Dad. How do I tell her?

My mom died 2 years ago, and now I live with my dad and abusive stepmom. My dad doesn't seem to see how she really acts. I want to leave, but I can't leave my 4 younger siblings with her. What should I do?

How do you control depression? Like if you are so sad that you can't hold it in and it shows in your behavior. How do you manage that?

My boyfriend and I have been together on and off for seven years. Now, as seniors, we plan to get married. The only problem is that he has a real temper. He gets mad over silly things and has gotten really controlling. I'm worried that his anger, a result of his parents' divorce, may end in physical abuse. I don't want to leave him because he has never threatened to, or actually, hit me.

I want to break up with my girlfriend. My friends say I should break up with her by text because it’s easier. I would rather face her now then face her after she gets the text, but I'm going to feel bad and cry. I'm a guy and crying is embarrassing, especially in public.

What do I do if my parents are under stress because of my brother and sister?

Ever since I was little, I've had this weird thing where I have to do things a certain number of times or else I get really high anxiety. I have problems with checking things and so on. I've done some research and I think I have OCD. I fear my parents might not believe me since I've always been able to cover it up or hide it from them.

My oldest brother was killed in a motorcycle accident. My other brother doesn't seem to be getting anywhere in his life and I think he’s suffering from depression. My parents have tried to get him to go to therapy but he usually doesn’t go and just says he did. How can I help him get better?

When I was growing up, I cried a lot and because of that now I hardly cry. Recently one of my friends died in a car wreck. I don’t want to cry but I feel like I have to. Is this healthy, or is there another way to show my emotions?

Have you ever been that one kid in your grade that is always different, that never seems to fit in with the rest of the school? Have you been so different that you want to be yourself but are driven down by what people think of you?

I might be moving so that my dad can get a job. But if my family and I don't move soon, I might lose my home. Is anybody else having this problem?

My mother met a guy and now she doesn't talk to me at all. Sometimes I feel like running away and it's like she doesn't care about me anymore. I just feel like leaving home sometimes, but I think if I ran away she wouldn't even care about it.

I have awesome grades at school and I do great, but now people expect me to be such a good person that when I make a mistake they're just shocked. It's like I can't be smart yet normal. What should I do?

I'm trying my best at school, or at least I think I am. I try to manage my time studying but I still don't understand a lot of the subjects. When I have homework I can't concentrate on reading and when it comes to tests I freak. If I don't get a B average in the next two weeks I'll have to quit cheer, my job, no more cell phone, no TV, no nothing...

I think I have a shopping addiction. Is this a problem?

How come our parents expect us to be perfect? My parents keep saying “I know you can do better,” which always ends in a fight. Then they will talk about how I don't APPLY myself enough or how so-and-so makes straight As or is absolutely perfect. How can I explain to my parents that I'm trying my hardest when they don't seem to think it is good enough?!

I'm dealing with depression and my parents want me to live at some house with other kids like me. How do I deal with that?

Recently I just felt like crying... just to cry. Is this normal for boys to do?

My dad is in rehab. How do I deal with this?

There is a possibility that my cousin has cancer. I am very sad. My cousin seems depressed. What can I do to make her feel better? How should I treat her?

Why do some people have luck flirting, and others have a hard time showing their feelings?

In middle school, I suffered from both anorexia and severe bulimia; now I see a therapist and take medication for depression. What my parents AND my therapist don't know is that I secretly still throw up every night. How can I stop and still feel good about myself?

My dad suddenly passed away nine months ago. I am not ready to deal with it, mostly because I do not fully believe that he is gone. I am constantly being pressured into talking about my feelings. How can I tell my peers to leave me alone without being rude?

What do you do when someone wants to fight you?

My grandmother died of breast cancer and my aunt is a breast cancer survivor. So I think I probably have a higher chance of getting breast cancer. This is something I think and worry about every day. What can I do instead of feeling like I'm waiting around for the inevitable bad news. Or how can I at least learn how to deal with this constant anxiety?

I have anxiety. Sometimes I cannot handle it. My parents are not very supportive and my therapist of five years just moved. I don’t know what to do!

If I am being treated for anxiety/depression at seventeen years old, am I going to be struggling with this for my entire life?

I am very different from the other girls in my school so all the boys are mean to me. They bully me and tease me. I tried telling the teacher and principal to make it stop but it didn’t work. Should I go talk to them myself?

My mom has been out of the picture since I was five. Now she suddenly wants to know everything about me. I have a stepmom and I just don't think she deserves this. How can I protect me and my little sister from our mom?

I have Asperger’s syndrome. Throughout my life, I've been very antisocial and my parents don’t allow me to interact with others outside of school. I've gotten to the point where I’ve begun to cut myself because I'm so stressed out. How can I improve this situation?

I just moved from the far east coast of America to the Navajo nation in the mid-west. Before this I had lived in the same city all my life and I’m feeling all types of loneliness, from impersonal loneliness to cultural loneliness. I don’t have any friends and everyone in the school ogles me like I’m part of a zoo because I’m a "billagaana" or white person. Because of this I have recently developed a second personality. Normally I wouldn't freak out about this but she "talks" to me and not everything she tells me is very nice... it feels like she’s driving me insane. What do I do?!

My BFF was raped a few years ago, and she told me this information about a month ago. She also said that she told her grandmother after the incident, but for some reason I don’t believe she did tell her grandmother, or anybody. What should I do?

Can you offer a safety plan on what to do if a teen is at a party where drugs are present and they want to leave without being ridiculed?

I am a senior in high school, I am Catholic, and I am gay. No one knows I am gay because I am afraid no one will accept me. Should I come out to my parents and friends and risk being not accepted, or should I continue to hide it?

Since I have moved I have experienced a lot of problems with friends. I figured out that my mom told some other moms about my issues and ADHD. I was not pleased. How can I make friends when people know I have ADHD?

I recently found out my father was gay and left my mother for a man. What should I do? I love my father but I’m homophobic. I can’t stand to look at him. Please help.

How do family members of people who are in the military deal with having their family members leave?

I'm a new student and I’ve met two nice girls who claim to be my friends. Only I feel really left out, because I always get ignored. My “friends” don't think so, but I always tag around them like a loner. I used to be really social with a close group of friends. What should I do?

I just moved from a school with a big diversity to a school with mainly white people. I feel so left out among those blue-eyed students. People are being racist. I try to ignore them, but it's hard. I can't switch schools yet, and talking to adults doesn't help. What should I do? How can I convince my parents I need to move?

I suffer from bullying others just because I have anger issues. I really try to hurt others when I’m not happy, so now I don’t have any friends. My family is trying to get me the help I need but it just won’t work.

My boyfriend and I fight constantly. He calls me a multitude of awful names. His friends call me names too. He sometimes hits and slaps me but I think he's just playing around. A few days ago, when we were fighting, he yanked my hair and pulled me by it. We fight nearly every other day and he's very verbally abusive, but I feel like I deserve it. I have no idea what I need to do or what I should be doing. I love him despite all of this but I'm not sure what he does and says is right.

Dr. Jan Archive

Developmental Disabilities and Disorders

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