The Family Foundation School
In my life before The Family School I was extremely self-centered. I hurt everyone around me to get what I wanted and got a lot of negative attention by acting like a psycho. I had no interest in God because he probably didn't want me to steal, lie, cheat, or use substances.
My life became unmanageable early on. I was kicked out of 8th grade for drinking and drugging, and a year later was thrown out of 9th grade for the same reasons. I also owed thousands of dollars in gambling debt and spent my life running from those I owed money to.
Before FFS, my life was unmanageable and out of control. I was shooting heroin, selling drugs, stealing, and lying to my parents. I did anything to blind me from reality because I hated who I had become.
At home I was an overeater and extremely overweight. Going to school was the last thing on my mind. I stayed home and slept all day, then got up and stayed out all night. I was rude and disrespectful and had fits of temper.
At home I perfected the art of quitting. My attempts at sports, school, and relationships amounted to nothing but pathetic stories because I never followed through. I did not like myself and wanted to escape the judgment of others.
My life at home was full of lies and deceit. I became part of the tough crowd in middle school, and in high school I was in and out of detention, got into bad relationships, ran away and was sent to a psych ward.
To put it bluntly, I was a drunk. I didn't care about my family, or God, just drinking and smoking. I was drug-tested for the first time at 12, at 13 I was in outpatient rehab, and at 15 I was sent to wilderness and then to The Family School.
I was 15 and my mother was driving me to the hospital. She was crying, but all I could think of was what a good job I had done not eating. I felt no remorse, only the desire to leave and continue killing myself.
I am an alcoholic and a drug addict who couldn't live life on life's terms, so I drank. When my dad was diagnosed with cancer, I was introduced to heavier drugs and started stealing and selling his pain medication.
I was empty, angry, miserable, and lonely at home, and used any means possible to numb my feelings. I dropped out of school. Nothing really mattered, and I was quickly using up my friends and family.
Teen Depression Problems
Understanding Teen Depression
The teen years are typically a time of change and self-discovery, rebellion and self-reliance, increased social expectation and peer pressure, and the development of a new identity. From the ages of 12 to 18, children are expected to push limits and experiment with new people, interests, and ideas, often pulling away from their parents and do so with a degree of moodiness and unrest. However, what differentiates normal teen behavior from underlying, undiagnosed teen depression?
It has been reported that nearly twenty percent of teens will experience depression during adolescence; as many as thirty percent of those with teen depression will develop substance abuse problems. While teen depression is common to both genders, girls are twice as likely to experience and report symptoms of depression as boys their age, possibly a result of social expectations that encourage girls to express their feelings while discouraging boys from showing weakness. It has been estimated that nearly eighty percent of children with teen depression do not receive the necessary treatment. Significant risk factors for teen depression include trauma, loss (parents, friends, and romantic relationships), trauma/abuse, family history of depression, family conflict, long-term illness, increasing social stress and dependence, experimentation with alcohol and drugs, and increasing sexual pressure.
Teen depression does not always manifest symptoms normally associated with clinical depression (social isolation, withdrawal, sullenness, etc.), and instead may present in aggressive acting-out behavior. For that reason, teen depression is many times dismissed as typical teenage moodiness/rebellion, or misdiagnosed as Oppositional Defiant Disorder or Conduct Disorder, and goes untreated. Common symptoms of teen depression include:
- has trouble making/keeping friends
- declining grades/truancy
- loss of interest in normally focused activities
- anger/irritability/hostility
- weepiness/sadness
- restlessness/agitation
- excessive sexual behavior
- acting-out behavior (stealing, violence, self-injury)
- declining self-care and hygiene
- negative self-talk/low self-esteem
- disordered eating habits/change in appetite
- pessimism
- somatic complaints (headaches, stomach aches, etc.)
- isolationism/withdrawal
- difficulty with concentrating and/or decision making
- personality changes
- suicidal ideation
- substance use
If these symptoms persist for more than two weeks, contact a medical provider who will be able to screen for depression. Treatment for teen depression comes in the form of a combination of lifestyle changes, psycho-education, activities designed to build self-esteem and increase self-reliance, prescription anti-depressants, and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). For some suffering from teen depression, more intensive care in a supportive, therapeutic milieu such as The Family Foundation School is necessary.
