48. Why Is My Teenager Feeling Like This?

Why Is My Teenager Feeling Like This? A Guide for Helping Teens Through Anxiety and Depression. David P. Murray. 2020. Crossway. 160 pages. [Source: Review copy] [parenting; christian nonfiction]

First sentence: Why is my teenager feeling like this? Have you ever looked at your adolescent son or daughter and asked this question? You poured your life into your children. You provided for them in every way. You set them up for success. But now they are sinking. They can’t get out of bed. They don’t want to go to school. They can’t function. They spend hours locked in their bedroom. They are nervous wrecks. This was not what you dreamed of. Instead of a confident, independent, happy, hopeful young man or woman, you now see a depressed, anxious, and empty soul.

Why Is My Teenager Feeling Like This? is a companion book to Why Am I Feeling Like This? It is for adults--parents, grandparents, pastors, teachers, etc. Why Am I Feeling Like This? is the book for teens.

I have not read Why Am I Feeling Like This?--at least not yet. I am curious if I'll identify more with that book or the book for parents?! (I am not a parent.)

The topic is anxiety and depression. The book opens with a longer section about anxiety and depression. It asks and answers these three questions: Who Gets Anxiety and Depression? What Causes Anxiety and Depression? What Can We Do about Anxiety and Depression? It encourages parents to read this book while their teens read Why Am I Feeling Like This? The books are designed to be read together and discussed together.

The book features eighteen examples or types. Circular Sarah. Tense Tom. Doomed Dave. Imaginative Imogen. Panicky Paul, etc. You get the idea. Each chapter focuses on a "key" to working through anxiety. One chapter, for example, might encourage kids to exercise and be less sedentary. Another chapter might focus on praying or memorizing Scripture. There is a chapter on seeking medical treatment and taking pills. There are additional activities and tools at the end of every chapter.

© Becky Laney of Operation Actually Read Bible