self-help psychology in teenage.

self-help
psychology
in teenage

P a w a6r i2s1a0 5P0r

o1 0m1 1p4a k d e e

STLRMAET3E1G3IELSEAFRONRINEGN
GMLAISNHAGLEAMNGENUTAGE

Contentself-help psychology in teenage

Four Ways to Help Teens Page 3-4
Feel Good about Themselves.

2 experts explain how to help teens Page 5-7
reduce their emotional distress.

Self-Help Strategies Page 8-10
for Depressed Teens

LME313 LEARNING MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Four Ways to Help Teens

Feel Good about Themselves

So, how can we influence how students think about
themselves? This may feel like a very tall order; yet

there is a lot of research out there that provides
some clues for supporting the teens in your life.
Here are five ways to help tweens and teens move

toward a more positive self-concept.



1. Get physical
Although you may have heard this before, kids
really can benefit from regular exercise (especially
when their tendency is to sit in front of a screen). A
recent review of 38 international studies indicates
that physical activity alone can improve self-esteem
and self-concept in children and adolescents.



2. Focus on self-compassion (not self-esteem)
Because self-esteem is a global evaluation of your

overall worth, it has its dangers. What am I
achieving? Am I good enough? How do I compare

with my peers?

Four Ways to Help Teens

Feel Good about Themselves

3. Avoid social comparison
When we focus on self-esteem, we tend to get

caught up in comparing ourselves to others.
Teens, in particular, often sense an “imaginary
audience” (i.e., “Everyone is looking at me!”) and
can become highly sensitized to who they are

relative to everyone around



4. Capitalize on specific skills
If you keep your eye out for teens’ talents and
interests, you can support them in cultivating

their strengths.
Researcher Susan Harter has studied adolescent

self-esteem and self-concept for years. She
claims that self-concept is domain-specific. Our
overall self-esteem or sense of worth tends to be

rooted in eight distinct areas: athletic
competence, scholastic competence, behavioral

conduct, social acceptance, close friendship,
romantic appeal, job satisfaction, and physical

attractiveness.

2 experts explain

how to help teens

reduce their

emotional distress

More than 40% of high-school students reported feeling
persistently sad or hopeless over the past year, according to
recent US data.And worldwide, approximately 17% of youths ages
12-18 self-harm each year.Here, two experts who study adolescent
self-harm reveal how we can help boost the mental health of
struggling teenagers.Emotions are tricky things. They allow
forhumans to fall in love, wage war and, as it turns out, engage in
self-harm.

It is hard to imagine an era in which young adults were more distressed than today. Recent
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data indicates that more than 40% of high school
students reported they felt persistently sad or hopeless over the past year. In the same survey,
about 20% reported that they seriously considered suicide. Worldwide, approximately 17% of

youths ages 12-18 intentionally injure themselves each year.



By all accounts, young people are experiencing a seemingly unprecedented level of emotional
distress.



Humans tend to behave in a way to seek pleasure and avoid pain. Why then would some
intentionally hurt themselves? In a new meta-analysis, a summary of research studies that we
and our colleagues published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, we reported that people

felt better immediately after they self-injured or thought about suicide.



We are a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at the University of Washington, researching
why youths and young adults self-injure, and a clinical psychologist studying young adult

substance use. Our research suggests that this reduction in emotional distress following acts of
self-harm and suicidal thoughts likely maintains these types of thoughts and behaviors.

2 experts explain how to help teens reduce their emotional distress

The challenges with studying self-harm
In his book “About Behaviorism,” the preeminent psychologist B.F.
Skinner coined the term “reinforcement” to explain why behaviors
are more likely to occur if that same behavior previously resulted in
a desired outcome. Over the past 20 years, leading theories have
hypothesized that self-injury operated in the same manner. That is,
if someone experienced relief from emotional suffering after they
injured themselves, they would be more likely to repeat the
behavior in the future.
Self-injury is difficult to research. Until the last decade, most
researchers asked people to reflect on what they were thinking or
feeling when they were self-injuring, but those episodes could
have been months or even years ago. We humans, though, are
remarkably bad at accurately reporting on our own behaviors,
especially when we try to explain why things happened. It’s
especially challenging for researchers to get a clear timeline of
events, which makes it difficult to pinpoint how someone was
feeling immediately before or after they self-injured.
Recently, researchers have tried to fill those gaps by making use of
the ubiquity of cellphones. In those studies researchers asked
participants to complete brief surveys about how they’re feeling
multiple times per day over their cellphones as they go about
living their lives.
Our meta-analysis analyzed 38 such survey-based studies, with
data contributed from researchers around the U.S. and Europe,
involving 1,644 participants. In all the studies, participants rated
the intensity of their emotions and indicated whether they had
thought about self-injury in the past few hours.

2 experts explain how to

help teens reduce their

emotional distress

Extending a helping hand
It’s important for people to know that help is available. The
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (800-273-8255) is free for
anyone experiencing emotional distress. Now Matters Now is
another free resource that offers coping strategies to manage self-
harm and suicidal thoughts from individuals with lived experience.
Prior research has shown that certain behavioral interventions,
such as cognitive behavioral therapy– an approach that focuses
on the interplay among thoughts, emotions and behaviors – or
dialectical behavioral therapy – a comprehensive treatment
package that teaches mindfulness, emotion regulation, distress
tolerance and interpersonal coping skills – are effective at
reducing self-injurious thoughts and behaviors. Both treatments
are designed to provide individuals with skills for recognizing their
emotions as well as changing their feelings without self-injuring.

SELF-HELP STRATEGIES
FOR DEPRESSED TEENS

1.Exercise often
Movement helps combat depression in a variety of
ways, including releasing feel-good chemicals into

the brain. Participating in physical activity may
help improve your teen's mood, and any type of
movement can make a difference, whether it’s

walking the dog, dancing in the shower or
skateboarding. Exercise also increases body
temperature, which may produce a feeling of
calmness, and help take your teen's mind off of

their troubles.
2.Pay Attention to Nutrition

Food fuels the body and the mind. Some foods
tend to make depression worse and some may

make it better.
For teens who thrive on junk food, adding more
nutritious foods to their diet often makes a big

difference in how they feel. If you need more
information about how to implement a healthier
diet, schedule a session with a nutritionist who
works with teens, or search for related information

in books and online.

SELF-HELP STRATEGIES
FOR DEPRESSED TEENS

3.Socialize and Find Support
Isolation leads to loneliness, which may lead to
increased feelings of depression. Unfortunately, a
common symptom of depression in teens is social
withdrawal. What often helps is to socialize and
stay connected with others. A teen struggling with
depression may need peers who will listen and
lend their support. Sometimes other depressed
teens are in the best position to do this, so
consider an online support group specifically for
depressed teens.



4.Vent Feelings
Pent-up feelings and emotions sometimes need to
be discharged in healthy ways in order to combat
depression. The process of doing so can also help
identify some of the negative feelings that often
go along with depression. Keep in mind, however,
that if this becomes a habit it can ultimately lead to
rumination, which can produce a more depressed,
unhappy mood.

SELF-HELP STRATEGIES
FOR DEPRESSED TEENS

5. Focus on Sleep Patterns
Sleep often plays a role in how a teen feels
physically and emotionally. Track your teen's
sleep patterns for a few days to get more
information.



6. Don't Use Drugs
When a teen doesn’t like how they feel or act,
sometimes they experiment with drugs, including
caffeine, in an effort to cope with their feelings. In
most cases, your teen doesn’t realize they're self-
medicating; they're just looking for ways to try to
feel better. Teens who turn to alcohol and
drugsusually make a bad situation worse.

A report from the White House Office of National
Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), revealed that
marijuana use among teens can worsen
depression and lead to serious mental disorders
like schizophrenia, anxiety, and even suicide.