Previous research demonstrates that parents’ communication skills may contribute to the development and maintenance of their young person’s borderline personality disorder (BPD). Carers of people with BPD also experience their own psychosocial stressors and feel unsupported. Consequently, Dialectical Behavior Therapy for adolescents (DBT-A) invites parents to partake in group therapy alongside their young person.

In a study funded by AFSP, Dr. Ruocco sought to investigate whether there is a change in brain activity after DBT. To do so, he worked with 29 actively self-harming outpatients with BPD at a clinic in Toronto. Participants ranged in age from 18 to 65, had been diagnosed with BPD for at least five years, and had engaged in seven episodes of self-harm in the previous year (e.g., cutting, overdose, burning). Most were White/Caucasian (64%), and nearly all were women (90%); the median age was 29.

Since adolescents are often moody, it can be difficult to recognize when your son or daughter has become depressed, and might need help. The thing people tend to notice first is withdrawal, or when the teenager stops doing things she usually likes to do. There might be other changes in her mood, including sadness or irritability. Or in her behavior, including, appetite, energy level, sleep patterns and academic performance. If several of these symptoms are present, be vigilant about the possibility of teen depression.

Girls who have Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are primarily different—not regarding the core characteristics of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but rather in their reaction to being different. Girls often use constructive coping and adjustment strategies to effectively camouflage their confusion in social situations and may achieve superficial social success by imitating others or avoiding engagement in interpersonal situations.

On 9th October 2017 the BBC reported that the number of reported sexual offences by under-18s against other under-18s in England and Wales rose by 71% from 4,603 from 2013-14 to 7,866 from 2016-17. The number of reported rapes among under-18s rose 46% from 1,521 to 2,223 over the same period, according to 32 police forces that supplied a breakdown of figures.

Sexually abusive behavior by adolescent youth is a serious problem, accounting for more than one-third of all sexual offenses against minors and causing serious harm or even devastating consequences.  As such, these youth merit careful professional attention and, at times, legal intervention.