Troubled Teenagers Sometimes Need More Help Than You Can Give

Can you tell the difference between your teenager being just an ordinary, mouthy, surly adolescent and when he becomes one of thousands of troubled teenagers? Do you know when it's time to seek outside help? The difference has a lot to do with the duration and consistency of unacceptable behavior. When troubled teenagers become unmanageable, and the duration is moving past six months, you are probably not equipped or prepared to handle the issues anymore.

You may have already exhausted many resources to get help for troubled teenagers. You probably have already sought help through:

• Parenting teens courses and books
• Educational consultants and counselors
• Coaching to improve parenting skills
• Substance abuse counseling
• Extended family members

You probably have started running out of ideas and places to turn...

Some Conditions Are Beyond a Parent's Ability to Intervene

Many conditions underlie the reasons why out-of-control teens act the way they do. Virtually all of these conditions require some outside help to identify and treat them. Some conditions that need professional attention to help you get your son back include:

• Oppositional Defiance Disorder
• Reactive Attachment Disorder
• Attention Deficit Disorder (with or without a hyperactive component)
• Unmanageable Stress and Anger Issues
• Emotional Distress Disorders
• Conduct Disorders
• Substance Abuse and addictive personality traits

You will need help from professional counseling (and sometimes medical intervention) to diagnose and treat these conditions.

Know the Warning Signs

It’s not difficult to recognize troubled teenagers when you know what to look for. The difficulty is stepping back far enough to recognize the behaviors:

• Isolation from family
• Abuse of siblings
• Absence of remorse and empathy
• Chronic lying
• Failing grades / skipping classes
• Lack of Motivation
• Bizarre changes in dress and appearance
• Sudden change in friends
• Inflicting injury to himself
• Attempts to run away

You may see many of these signs together. In combination, these signs signal troubled teenagers have something more serious than just a "bad attitude."

Where Is the Right Place to Start?

Therapists can address several areas at the same time but some need to be addressed before others can be tackled. That is near-impossible for you to do at home by yourself. Arivaca Boys Ranch counselors know which issues need to be addressed first and which ones are dependent on success with others.

Here are some of the ways Arivaca can help your son:

• Break down the isolation and re-establish social skills.
• Improve self-motivation, responsibility and self-esteem.
• Improve problem-solving, anger and stress management techniques.
• Intervene with cutting/mutilation issues and substance abuse.

Once critical issues are addressed, Arivaca has an accredited high school program where your son can find out how to enjoy learning again. Arivaca can help him recover failed classes, restore his confidence and get him back on track to graduation and a successful adult life.

Equine Therapy Works

Equine therapy offers opportunities for breaking the shell, re-establishing self-esteem, and increasing motivation and responsibility. Equine therapy schools are different. A defiant teen learns something from an Arabian horse that adults can't teach him: what it is like to be on the parenting end of the situation. The horses also teach boys they need to change hostile behavior into cooperative behavior to get results. Until boys learn this, an Arabian horse cannot be made to cooperate. That change in behavior becomes a self-fulfilling goal. 
A boarding school for troubled boys can provide enough time (usually several months) for teens to adopt the behavioral changes into their way of doing things on the long term. Arivaca Boys Ranch will help you. Arivaca is staffed with counselors whose specialty is applying the strategies needed to manage and control disruptive behavior and outbursts. Call for help at (877) 88-MYSON. Arivaca Boys Ranch can help get your son back.

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