Your troubled teenager has a lot of
adjusting to do during the period of adolescence, and sometimes a
number of stressful occurrences or a particular stressful encounter can
cause a disorder such as Adjustment Disorder to manifest in your teen.
Not only does he or she have to deal with entering into a new
environment (high school) but your teen may not even feel comfortable
in his or her own body (puberty). This can be a lot to handle for a
teen. If you even include a relocation or move from one home to
another, then we’re talking about some serious adjustment here.
Look ahead
If
you are expecting changes like this, it would be a good idea to try and
get your teen to go to some counseling sessions even before something
like Adjustment Disorder actually manifests. Think of it as a vaccine
you get even before you catch a sickness in order to help your body
combat against it.
By putting your child in some counseling or therapy
sessions, you’re actually keeping him or her strong enough to defend
him or herself once issues with adjustment strike.
Talk to your teen
If
you are aware of change that your teenager will be going through in the
time to come, you might as well do your part to make him or her ready
for it. It wouldn’t help to talk to your teen about what he or she
expects in the future with regards to whatever change it may be that
you are aware of. Process these feelings with him or her and possibly
share your own.
Try as best as you can to make your
teen feel comfortable with you. This may be the only way that he or she
will open up and share what exactly may be putting him or her under
stress. Once you know exactly what’s bothering him or her, you can then
take steps to help him or her adjust to the situation at hand.
Not all change is bad
Talk
can be a vital tool in helping your teen deal with adjustment. Be there
to listen to him or her. If you realize that your teen may be afraid of
change, then help him or her ease into a new situation while helping
him or her understand that not all change is bad.
Just because
something is unfamiliar and seems strange doesn’t mean that it will
necessarily stay that way. Once your teen is accustomed to his or her
new environment, what was once unfamiliar may be exactly what reminds
him or her of what he may now consider home.
