"Help: I Need a Great Therapist!" (Chair's Corner) (Column‪)‬

It was going to be another typical presentation and panel discussion. At a suburban, middle class community parent night, people came to listen and to learn. The key note presentation this particular night was on anxiety and stress in students--specifically teens--a burning topic in many parent's minds today. Sitting in the audience were 250 parents, eager to hear how to recognize if their child's stress was "normal" or "abnormal." Desperate to hear from a parenting consultant on how to help reduce stress for today's teens, the parents listened to the presenter as she advised them to do the following: limit television and computer time, eat family meals together, keep open lines of communication about "tough" topics, and spend quality time together. It seemed all too basic to me, and (my opinion), by the looks in the parents eyes, to them as well. I could see the questions in their eyes and the thoughts they had: But how do I know if my child is more stressed than other teens? Where's the line that crosses between normal teenage angst and abnormal, diagnosable, and treatment-required anxiety and depression? How do I keep my kid from drugs, suicide, and gangs? I didn't hear many answers, rather more of what was in the speaker's book (which she was trying to sell that night--none sold I'm told) than any practical advice for parents.