When can you say that someone is just shy, and when can you say that some already has a social phobia? It is very hard to distinguish between the two because oftentimes, social phobia is simply thought to be shyness. However, in spite of the fact that shy people can be a little uneasy around other people, the level of anxiety that is felt by people who suffer from social phobias are on a high level that is beyond that of the typical shy person. And that spells the difference between the two. The onset of social phobia is usually seen during the early adolescence stage.

There are several consequences that a teen with a social phobia has to face. Aside from alienating herself from the social scene and veering away from dates and in social situations, this phobia may also take its toll on his or her education. This is the time when social phobia starts to pose a great problem for teens.

An example is this girl I knew in high school. T first, we thought she was just the shy type, so whenever she declines to attend parties and social gatherings, we just let her. We figured she wasn’t the type to attend social events. But as time went by, her plight got worse, to the point that she doesn’t even come to class anymore because she was always afraid to speak and recite in class.

I don’t know what happened to that girl; none of us knew. The news is that she and her family left for another country. I guess nothing can be done now, but still, I think that this case in point proves that social phobia should be dealt with accordingly because it’s a serious problem, not only for teens and for young adults. So if you know someone who manifests extreme and irrational fear of social situations, report it to a person in authority so that something might be done before things get out of hand.

It is not uncommon for us to think the worst of students who drop out of schools. The most common nuances are that the teen is addicted to some sort of drugs or he or she is expecting a baby. And so the list goes on; various assumptions that put the blame solely on the teens who dropped out of school. What we don’t realize is that these teens may have reasons of their own—reasons that cannot be ignored; and reasons that they have no control over.

Basically, the rants of the teens who drop out of school is that the school they are studying in have an ineffective system, or the school itself has a different “feel”. Another reason, they claim, is their learning style which is not being addressed by the teacher or the professor. Passive instructional strategies are also among the reasons they cited, as well as their fear of student violence.

If you will look into these reasons, you will see that most, if not all, are directly related to the school and the school environment. In other words, the students find it difficult to deal with the school system and the school environment, so they opt to stay out of school.

While we should not tolerate this kind of reasoning, we should at least look into how true and how real these situations are for these students. We may not realize it, but there is actually a possibility that the schools are not responding to the needs of the students by not providing a safe and healthy environment for them, where they may study and learn and concentrate well. If that’s the case, then we have a problem. But at least, we now know what the problem is, so it would be easier to solve it henceforth.

We see them on TV most of the times. Even cartoons have them. Bullies are part and parcel of the school environment, whether we admit it to ourselves or not. We all have direct or indirect run-ins with bullies, they are already part of the society, as we know it. Because of their prevalence, bullies are portrayed in films and cartoons the way they really are in person. But sometimes, they are stereotyped in a way that is not always how they are profiled.

It is very interesting to note that the typical bullies in cartoons and in children’s and teens shows are the bulky and fat boys who often are portrayed as villains. Of course, you may argue that bullies are indeed villains because they tease and they cause harm and they make things hard for the helpless children and teens who are too soft and weak to stand up for themselves. But you should also look at the reason behind bullies’ bullying frolics.

More often than not, bullies resort to bullying because they are restless, listless, unhappy, and insecure. These negative feelings are often harbored at home. Dissatisfaction over family affairs and family relationships often distresses the bullies so much that the tendency is for them to vent out their anger on someone else. Probably because there is a need for them to feel superior and secure and powerful, so to speak.

Of course, the personal plight of bullies are not licenses for them to act the way they do. But looking at things the way the bullies perceive them is also a fresh perspective. One that is worth reckoning with, i think.

We all deal with different sets of ordeals that there comes a time when we just snap—meaning, we just give in to our emotions. Teens are no different. Though they seem to give in to their moods more easily than the adolescents do, because the hormonal changes in their bodies somehow make it hard for them to deal with day-to-day challenges as easily and as maturely as the adolescents do. In spite of this, it is still normal for teens to have bouts of negative emotions. One of the most common among these is anger.

When teens lose their temper, they tend to act impulsively. They tend to be aggressive, even. Of course, this is very frustrating to the parents to see their teens release their bouts of anger on their siblings, or inside to the house, even to the dogs. But what parents should be aware of is that teen anger is normal, and to a certain point, it is also healthy.

Anger, when dealt with positively, releases the negative energies of the individual, and thus destresses him or her. After the bout of anger has been reliebed, the teen who lost his or her temper may feel relieved of his or her impulses already. When this happens, a sort of a calming effect is felt by the teen. The only danger here is when the teen doesn’t know how to channel his or her anger properly. By doing so, he or she may cause hazard to the people around him or her. This is something to watch out for. Parents and even the teens themselves should take care in controlling their anger, and at the same time, to release it as well so that the negative emotions don’t get bottled up inside, so to speak.

More than the thrills and the perks of being a certified member of the adolescent sector, there are many important aspects that should first be considered before leaping into adolescence. Some of these issues may be trivial, while some may be complex and very complicated. Among these complex and complicated matters are the problems that one has to face before becoming an adult; a rite of passage, as some would call it. These are the challenges that one has to overcome; issues and battles that should be won over, once and for all. If you are one of those who are at the point of transition from childhood to pre-adolescence, better take note of what I have to say; this just might help you get through.

The most important challenge of entering a new phase, any phase, for that matter, is the challenge of overcoming the things that hinder growth and development. A case in point: A friend of mine, Janna, has a somewhat trivial problem: she cannot throw her old stuffs away. You might say that there’s no point in throwing your old stuffs away, especially since these are the things you grew up with; the things you’ve grown accustomed to since you were a child. Poin taken. But janna’s case is special because she cannot throw her old stuffed toys away. Consequently, she cannot sleep over at a friend’s house without bringing all her stuffed animals with her. This practice does not sit well with her friends, and so they avoided asking her to join them in slumber parties since then.

While you may argue that the friends of Janna are very shallow-minded for letting these practices get in the way of their friendship, the point of the matter is this: When something hinders you from growing and developing your full potential, you should find means to fight it. Or else, it will gobble you up, so to speak. It will impair you and your ability to seek a sense of development.

Shifting from childhood to adolescence is pretty tough. It all boils down to adapting to the various changes that one hes to undergo: the mental, emotional, and the physical changes that is entailed in the evnt of pre-adolescence.There are several important issues that a teen has to be prepared for; some of these issues pertain to body image, identity, family relationships as well as those that deal with friends and the opposite sex. Teens cope with these issues differently, but in order to lead a healthy, satisfyung and happy sense of self, a teen has keep a positive attitude when it comes to hang

Some teens find it too hard to deal with the changes in their lives; thus they find it hard to grow up. Adjust may be critical, especially when the teen is fixated with certain things and people and situations. For one, a teen who is very attached to her parents may find it hard to relate with her peers, especially when her peers have leap into the independence stage. Teens who are the youngest among siblings, or teens who are the only kid in the family, may be too comfortable in being with his or her parents that he or she finds it hard to “let go”. In cases such as these, the peers should be the ones to initiate a sort of social welcome for that teen. Otherwise, that teen may not want to leave the safe haven of the care of his or her parents. Moreover, it will be difficult for the teen because he or she may be stereotyped as an outcast.

While choosing to be with one’s parents all the time is not always a bad idea, I’m sure most of you will agree that it is not very to one’s image and identity, which is one of the critical issues that facing adulthood has in store for young people.

As a last resort, those who do not want to join the social scene with his or her peers and also doesn;t have friends who will include him or her in the social circles, the parents can also be the ones to urge their child to expand his or her horizons, so to speak. This way, the child will enetr the pre-adolescence stage the way other individuals do.

Jimmy is now certain that he doesn’t have Tourette’s Syndrome. He was glad that his mother was there to give him love and concern and support, the way she had given love and concern and support for his father when he was still alive. Now that he is more knowledgeable on the subject, jimmy feels more compassionate towards the individuals with Tourette’s Syndrome because he almost had one himself.

He feels bad that he wasn’t able to feel this extent of compassion for his father.

It took Jimmy awhile to get over his feelings of guilt. His mother helped him fight depression—depression because he felt as if he had burdened his father by being ashamed of him; when in fact, his father had been pretty brave in trying to live with the illness. Jimmy wished he could turn back time, but he couldn’t. He could, however, offer help and support to those individuals who are diagnosed with the illness.

Jimmy did some preliminary research ion the internet and came across a website for patients with Tourette’s Syndroma and their fanmilies. It offers a support system for the patient and for the families of the patients, as well as for a, synposia, workshop, and basically everything there is to know about Tourette’s syndrome.

Click below to gain access to that website.

http://www.tsa-usa.org/

From that time on, Jimmy vowed to advocate for the individuals who have Tourette’s Syndrome.

Jimmy’s worst fears have come true; he does have the illness that he’s so skirmish about. He has Tourette’s Syndrome. He’s positive that he has inherited it from his father; after all, almost all the books and research papers he consulted claimed that Tourette’s Syndrome is inherited. Moreover, research also alleges that Tourette’s Syndrome is more commonly passed on to the genes of the boys, rather than the girls, who had parents that had the disease.
Jimmy is at his wit’s end. He couldn’t talk to anyone about his illness because he feels that no one is going to understand him; no one can relate to him because they don’t know what they he is going through. He’s all alone on this. The one person whom he could have confided to about his illness is gone—his father, Martin, passed away a f year ago due to a coronary heart disease.
The tics he’s having, according to his research, are what experts call “coprolalia”. It’s the repetitive impulse (and acting in response to that impulse) of cursing. It had been a simple impulse when he was still young, but now, it seems as if the impulses are more uncontrollable than ever. His impulses have gotten the best of him and he doesn’t know how to control it anymore.
Jimmy tried to fight the impulses. But still, the inevitable happened; his mother found out about it.

Jimmy was taken to a specialist in neurology, the same neurologist who also tried to manage Jimmy’s father’s illness for him. As it turned out, Jimmy’s impulses wre just that—impulses brought about by anxiety and stress. Simply put, the idea that Jimmy has Tourette’s Syndrome is false alarm. He’s a normal teen, after all.

Jimmy almost jumped up and down with joy.

Jimmy’s father, Martin, has been diagnosed with a certain illness at a young age. Jimmy isn’t very familiar with this illness, especially since he found out about it when he was barely in his fifth grade when he heard his mother and his grandmother talking about it. However, now that Jimmy is in high school and neurological disorders are thoroughly being discussed in school, Jimmy couldn’t help but feel distressed over his father’s condition. Worse, half of him feels ashamed of his father because of the involuntary impulses that he tend to manifest in public. In his early childhood years, Jimmy used to bring his friends to their house to eat his mother’s specialty, spicy chicken wings. Now though, he doesn’t do that anymore because he feels that his dad will do something weird, like give in to his involuntary impulses.

Jimmy was afraid of what his friends might say about his father’s illness. Aside from this, he is also afraid that he would suffer the same fate.

Jimmy is one among hundreds of teens who are at risk of having Tourette’s Syndrome, a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. These tics are the involuntary impulses that Martin exhibits, which Jimmy is ashamed about. Although these tics are commonly simple, like, involuntary shaking or wriggling of the hands and the likes, it may also be severe in some cases, such as acts of swearing repetitively, repeating what other people say, or even slapping or punching one’s self.

To a certain extent, Jimmy’s initial reaction of shame towards his father’s condition is inevitable. Him being a teen, evidently still immature, gives him a “license” for being somewhat shallow. However, it is important for Jimmy, as well for other teens, to realize that individual’s with Tourette’s Syndrome have to live with this condition for the rest of their lives. Thus, understanding, compassion, and support is important to extend to those who are afflicted with it.

Homosexuality is no longer a big deal. I mean, maybe it still is, to a certain extent, but not as immense an issue as it had been in the past. So when a teen starts to think that he or she is having homosexual tendencies, what is the best way to go about it? Should a girl give in to the urge, for example, of kissing someone who is also a female? Or should a boy give in to the impulse of holding his friend’s hand, when in fact, his friend is also a boy?

Teens start to face issues like these as they enter the puberty stage, or the stage where many physical and emotional changes can occur to him or her. When teens start to doubt their own sexuality, who should they turn to?

Parenting teens is hard because sometimes, even the parents themselves cannot address the problems that their teens are going through. Some parents are too strict and conservative, some are close minded, while other are downright clueless in issues like homosexuality and bisexuality. In cases when you, as a teen, are having issues like these and you cannot deal with it, get help. Ou may not opt to seek assistance from your own parents. That’s understandable. But if you do seek advice, ask someone who m you feel can influence you to take the right path, wherever that is.

Parents and teens should have a close relationship that is built on genuine concern, love, and understanding, but that doesn’t mean that the teens are obliged to confide on their parents alone. Neither does this mean that the parents should force their teens to spill their guts to them. Remember, teens need privacy,too. If you feel that you have raised your teen well, do not dwell on the fact that he or she is hiding something from you. Rather, rest assured that whatever it is that she’s going through, he or she will be able to handle it well, At his or her own pace, in his or her own time.