I just wanted to be in the middle somewhere here. I think that there are times when teens need to get help. I believe that there are safe places that make a possitive difference in kids lives. I don't believe that all TBS's, are all bad, evil, or abusive. But, no!!!!!!! I had to be 100% on board with you guys saying that any kind of treatment especially when forced on teenagers is wrong, and cruel!
you know i could not agree more that some kids do need help. i am willing to concede that all places *may* not be abusive in their approach. But what I do challenge is the philosophy of taking a kid who needs help out of the community. Sometimes normal boarding school is recommended over TBS but even then i would say that if a kid is troubled this route misses the point because while their content and secure counterpart might do well away from the family an insecure and troubled child is likely to feel that they were too much of a burden on loved ones.
The UK health dept recently published the claim that its suicide rate is the lowest since it began to collect the data. So i had a look at what UK NGOs and govt depts are doing to treat suicide and depression. I have posted some links below. One thing i noticed was that institutionalisation was not pushed at all. The other thing which was emhphasised was that academic failure was not the end of the world.
one sight which admittedly was geared toward the parents of uni students pointed out that if the depression was linked to academic pressure it was important to remind the kid that a year off or even leaving study indefinitely could be an option. it reminded me of exhausted's happy burger flipper comment.
What if the prevalent attitude toward the problems of adolescents was either that
A) some kids are absolute nightmares. Their parents need support within the community so that years later when the kid is past it, their awfulness becomes a family joke
B) Bonafide mental illness needs to be seen as a community issue and that even when on the right track in terms of being able to function, there are some people who have unique personalities and will never necessarily fit into the box. Where would xmas lunch be without Wacky aunt Zelda who fashions jewellery out of beer cans for a living?
c)While a childs sexual promiscuity, terrible choice of boyfriend and substance use are a worry to parents, the costs of locking a young person away to prevent them from doing this are higher than the benefits of keeping them from doing this.
d) in the unfortunate event of a substance addiction or eating disorder which is bad enough to require hospitalisation or an institution family need to visit regularly. Friends (who are not likely to smuggle drugs in) need to be allowed contact. The kid needs to not be cut off from their world.
i appreciate that this sounds overly idealistic but the only way ideas gain mainstream acceptance is if they are put out ofr examination.
http://www.cre8ive.com.au/cms/content/j ... ril_05.pdfhttp://www.dh.gov.uk/PublicationsAndSta ... chk=CQnM7Nhttp://www.papyrus-uk.org/for-parents.htmlhttp://www.clinical-depression.co.uk/Tr ... olling.htm
