Teenage years are demanding, with adolescents facing increasing academic responsibilities, social pressures, and physical, cognitive, and emotional changes. While many teenagers thrive, others experience difficulties such as depression, anxiety, poor school performance, eating disorders, substance abuse problems, and conduct issues. Conflict within families may also increase as teenagers alternately reject adult directions, demand privileges, or engage in risky behavior.
Mental health treatment can address many challenges teens and their families face. However, it’s common for teenagers to resist therapy. Some may feel threatened by the prospect of sharing their feelings or changing their behavior, while others may feel embarrassed or put down by the suggestion that they need help. Your understanding and support can significantly increase your teen’s acceptance of therapy.
Helpful Approaches
- Ask your child if they are open to help and explore their concerns. Your teen will be more open to your ideas if they feel understood and their problems are taken seriously. This approach fosters empathy and connection, crucial in encouraging your teen to seek help.
- Use non-threatening language. Many teens perceive terms like ‘treatment’ and even ‘therapy’ as pejorative. Instead, try ‘counseling’ and ‘guidance,’ which usually feel more palatable. This can help reframe therapy in a more positive light.
- Avoid framing counseling as a way of ‘fixing’ your teen. Instead, describe it as a way of improving their lives. Assure them that you will work with them to find counseling that addresses their concerns.
- Assure them that they will only attend as long as they benefit. If they are not progressing, you will work with them to find alternatives to address any remaining issues.
- Inform them that, while you hope counseling can offer a safe space to express themselves, they will not be “forced to talk.”
- Consider the full range of therapeutic modalities. Teens wary of being labeled as “the problem” might be open to family therapy that addresses family relationships. Teens concerned about confidentiality or daunted by the prospect of communicating with their families might feel comfortable with an individual therapist. Others may prefer group therapy.
- Involve your teen in the search. Be clear that it is essential that they feel comfortable with whoever works with them. Many therapists offer free consultations.
If you involve your teen in the decision to enter therapy and they view it as a way of addressing their needs, they are often more open to it and better positioned to benefit from it.
-Posted by Jonah Green, the owner and director of Jonah Green and Associates, LLC, which provides therapy for children, teens, families, and adults in North Bethesda, Maryland, as well as for clients in Chevy Chase, Montgomery County, Washington, DC, and the surrounding areas.