Grief is a complex emotion that can be challenging for teens to navigate. According to the Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM), 1 in 12 children and teens in the U.S. will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18. While grief is usually...
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Residential Treatment Length for Teens: How Long Is It?
If your child is about to begin a stay at a residential treatment center, you’re bound to have a lot of questions. What types of therapy will be involved? Will our family be allowed to visit? And, of course, how long is a teen residential treatment program? A...
Is Residential Treatment Considered Inpatient or Outpatient?
If you’ve never engaged with residential treatment centers before, it’s common to ask: is residential treatment considered inpatient or outpatient? Our residential teen treatment centers are considered inpantient because teens stay at our houses during the course of...
When to Choose Residential Treatment Over Other Treatment Programs
When seeking help for your teen, it’s important to know which mental health conditions can be treated by residential treatment. For teens suffering from mental health disorders, behavioral disorders, psychological disorders, or addiction issues, there are a variety of...
Does Insurance Cover Residential Treatment?
How Much Does Residential Treatment Cost? Cost of Residential Treatment The cost of residential treatment varies between each Residential Treatment Center (RTC). The spectrum of cost may range anywhere from free (this is very uncommon) to tens of thousands of dollars...
3% of Teens Identify as Transgender or Gender Nonconforming in America
How Many Transgender Teens Are There? Approximately 150,000 American teens (ages 13 to 17) identify as transgender in the United States today. Of course, there is no general age in which people typically “discover” or “come out” as transgender. Nonetheless, more and...
How To Treat Teen Depression (A Guide for Parents)
It is very common for young people to experience occasional moodiness or periods of sadness. Yet with depression rates on the rise amongst adolescents and teenagers (approximately 12.5% of youth today have experience at least one major depressive episode), it is vital...
Distinguishing Between Signs of Depression or “Moodiness” in Teens
Parents often wonder how to distinguish normal teenage mood swings and rebellions from actual symptoms of depression. Fortunately, there are several ways to tell. As many as 1 in 5 teenagers will experience depression at some point during adolescence. Unfortunately,...
Social Anxiety in Teens: Signs, Symptoms, and How to Help
What is Social Anxiety? Social anxiety disorder (SAD) affects 1 out of 3 adolescents between 13 and 18 years old. Over 19 million people across America suffer from social anxiety disorder (SAD) today. It is the most common anxiety disorder and third most common mental...
Prevention of Teen Depression: Parent, Friend, and Support Tips
At any given time, one out of every five teenagers is experiencing major depression. If you are a parent to an adolescent or teenager, you are likely familiar with the moodiness inherent to this age group. Mood swings are common, as teens are experiencing a vast...
How to Talk to Your Teen About Depression
Talking to your teen about depression can be a difficult and intimidating task. The adolescent and teenage years are some of the most difficult, due to the immense amount of changes going on in both the brain and the body. These changes affect how teens think, learn,...
Managing Expectations With Your Adolescent
As a parent of an adolescent, your attitudes, actions, and beliefs can have a tremendous impact on your child’s well-being. Your teen is experiencing the challenging process of transitioning from childhood to adulthood and, as someone who has gone through this journey...
How to Know If Your Child Is Transgender
There is no simple test to tell if a child is transgender. Experts often refer to the idea of insistence, consistency, and persistence in terms of gauging whether a child is just going through a phase or not. This means the more insistent a child is, and the longer...
What is A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility?
A psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) provides out-of-home psychiatric care to children, adolescents, and young adults in a non-hospital, highly structured setting. PRTF’s serve clients whose mental health needs require more intensive treatment than can...
What Causes Eating Disorders in Teenagers?
Identifying the Risk Factors: Causes, Signs & Symptoms of Teen Eating Disorders Eating disorders are complex and affect all different kinds of people. Although, adolescents and teenagers are more at risk. There is no one identified cause of teen eating disorders....
A Parent’s Guide To Navigating Grief In Teenagers
Grief is a complex emotion that can be challenging for teens to navigate. According to the Childhood Bereavement Estimation Model (CBEM), 1 in 12 children and teens in the U.S. will experience the death of a parent or sibling by age 18. While grief is usually...
Residential Treatment Length for Teens: How Long Is It?
If your child is about to begin a stay at a residential treatment center, you’re bound to have a lot of questions. What types of therapy will be involved? Will our family be allowed to visit? And, of course, how long is a teen residential treatment program? A...
Is Residential Treatment Considered Inpatient or Outpatient?
If you’ve never engaged with residential treatment centers before, it’s common to ask: is residential treatment considered inpatient or outpatient? Our residential teen treatment centers are considered inpantient because teens stay at our houses during the course of...
When to Choose Residential Treatment Over Other Treatment Programs
When seeking help for your teen, it’s important to know which mental health conditions can be treated by residential treatment. For teens suffering from mental health disorders, behavioral disorders, psychological disorders, or addiction issues, there are a variety of...
Does Insurance Cover Residential Treatment?
How Much Does Residential Treatment Cost? Cost of Residential Treatment The cost of residential treatment varies between each Residential Treatment Center (RTC). The spectrum of cost may range anywhere from free (this is very uncommon) to tens of thousands of dollars...
3% of Teens Identify as Transgender or Gender Nonconforming in America
How Many Transgender Teens Are There? Approximately 150,000 American teens (ages 13 to 17) identify as transgender in the United States today. Of course, there is no general age in which people typically “discover” or “come out” as transgender. Nonetheless, more and...
How To Treat Teen Depression (A Guide for Parents)
It is very common for young people to experience occasional moodiness or periods of sadness. Yet with depression rates on the rise amongst adolescents and teenagers (approximately 12.5% of youth today have experience at least one major depressive episode), it is vital...
Distinguishing Between Signs of Depression or “Moodiness” in Teens
Parents often wonder how to distinguish normal teenage mood swings and rebellions from actual symptoms of depression. Fortunately, there are several ways to tell. As many as 1 in 5 teenagers will experience depression at some point during adolescence. Unfortunately,...
Social Anxiety in Teens: Signs, Symptoms, and How to Help
What is Social Anxiety? Social anxiety disorder (SAD) affects 1 out of 3 adolescents between 13 and 18 years old. Over 19 million people across America suffer from social anxiety disorder (SAD) today. It is the most common anxiety disorder and third most common mental...
Prevention of Teen Depression: Parent, Friend, and Support Tips
At any given time, one out of every five teenagers is experiencing major depression. If you are a parent to an adolescent or teenager, you are likely familiar with the moodiness inherent to this age group. Mood swings are common, as teens are experiencing a vast...
How to Talk to Your Teen About Depression
Talking to your teen about depression can be a difficult and intimidating task. The adolescent and teenage years are some of the most difficult, due to the immense amount of changes going on in both the brain and the body. These changes affect how teens think, learn,...
Managing Expectations With Your Adolescent
As a parent of an adolescent, your attitudes, actions, and beliefs can have a tremendous impact on your child’s well-being. Your teen is experiencing the challenging process of transitioning from childhood to adulthood and, as someone who has gone through this journey...
How to Know If Your Child Is Transgender
There is no simple test to tell if a child is transgender. Experts often refer to the idea of insistence, consistency, and persistence in terms of gauging whether a child is just going through a phase or not. This means the more insistent a child is, and the longer...
What is A Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility?
A psychiatric residential treatment facility (PRTF) provides out-of-home psychiatric care to children, adolescents, and young adults in a non-hospital, highly structured setting. PRTF’s serve clients whose mental health needs require more intensive treatment than can...
What Causes Eating Disorders in Teenagers?
Identifying the Risk Factors: Causes, Signs & Symptoms of Teen Eating Disorders Eating disorders are complex and affect all different kinds of people. Although, adolescents and teenagers are more at risk. There is no one identified cause of teen eating disorders....
What Causes Mental Illness in Adolescence
Although it is often assumed that young people are more carefree than adults, their lives are full of emotional ups and downs. This is hugely evident in the statistics regarding adolescent and teen mental health, with as many as one out of every five adolescents and...
What Causes Thoughts of Self-Harm in Teens
What Is Self-Harm? Self-harm (sometimes called self-injury or self-mutilation) is the act of intentionally harming oneself in a physical manner. Self-harm is an expression of personal distress and often a coping mechanism. Self-harm is not a mental illness itself (but...
What to Pack for Residential Treatment
Entering residential treatment can be a difficult, confusing, and stressful time for both the parents and the adolescent or teenager going to treatment. Before physically entering a residential treatment program, patients will learn what to expect from their stay in...
Can Anxiety Cause Depression in Teens?
When a person suffers from two or more mental health conditions, they are referred to as “comorbid” or co-occurring disorders. Anxiety and depression are the two diagnoses most closely related, and for adolescents and teenagers, the two mental health disorders most...
Teens and Mental Health: Common Problems, Issues, Disorders and What You Can Do To Help
Mental illness is hugely common in adolescents and teenagers. In fact, approximately one in five young people meet criteria for at least one mental illness. Mental health issues can affect all areas of a teen’s life, from school performance to socialization and how...
Treatment for Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Adolescence
Oppositional defiant disorder in teens (ODD) is one of the more common mental health disorders and falls under the umbrella of disruptive behavior disorders. Adolescents with oppositional defiant disorder demonstrate disobedient, defiant and/or hostile behavior,...
When To Seek Residential Treatment for Your Teen
Residential treatment centers provide individualized mental and behavioral health care for youth struggling with a variety of issues and struggles. Residential treatment programs often address the following: Trauma and abuse Depression and/or anxiety Eating...
Important Teen Mental Health Statistics for Parents
TEENAGE MENTAL HEALTH STATISTICS Mental illness is a disorder of brain function. There are many different classes and categories of mental health disorders, and those who suffer from mental illness do not do so by choice. Various factors can cause and/or contribute...
ADD in Teenage Girls
Symptoms of ADD in Teenage Girls Images of boys being impatient, loud, or climbing on things often come to mind for many when talking about attention-deficit issues in youth. Because attention-deficit disorders are frequently associated with males, girls with...
How Many Teens Suffer With Depression?
Why Today's Teens Are More Depressed. Depression is a serious mental illness that can affect anyone. Depression causes ongoing sadness, hopelessness, loss of interest, and in severe cases, suicidal thoughts. Adolescents and teenagers are one of the populations most...
Depression and Substance Abuse: Which Comes First?
According to popular belief, depression is one of the main causes of substance abuse and addiction in teenagers. It is thought that depressed youth tend to self-medicate with things such as drugs and alcohol, which, over time, leads them to becoming addicted. Yet,...
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Teens
The adolescent and teenage years are a challenging phase of life. During this time, it is fairly common for youth to develop certain habits and quirks in an attempt to manage the various stressors. Yet for some, these individual “quirks” can indicate the presence of...
Six Symptoms of PTSD in Teenagers
Post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) is an anxiety disorder that can develop following a traumatic event. PTSD can occur in teens who experience a traumatic event personally, are witness to a traumatic event, or in rare cases, hear about a trauma that has...
Panic Attacks in Teens – A Guide for Parents
As human beings, our bodies have a natural, built in “fight-or-flight” response when danger is sensed. The brain activates adrenaline in the body to trigger the response to either “fight” the danger or to escape (the “flight”). Although this “fight-or-flight”...
Borderline Personality Disorder in Teens: What You Need to Know
What is Borderline Personality Disorder? Teens with borderline personality disorder (BPD) have particularly negative and distorted views of themselves, including a lack of self-worth. This contributes to feelings of inadequacy, and makes it difficult to create and...
Impacts of Social Media on Teen Health
Social media is a constant in life for most people, especially teenagers. According to the research, 90% of teenagers are on at least one social media site. Adolescents and teens today are the first generation to have grown up with social media, and do not know the...
10 Statistics of Teenage Eating Disorders
The adolescent and teenage years are a time of growth and transformation, physically, mentally and biologically. In moving towards adulthood, young people begin to discover who they are. Independent of parents, they begin to establish friendships and go through...
The Relationship between Technology and Teenage Depression
Excessive use of social media, smartphones, and other technologies has had a demonstrably negative impact on the mental health of America’s teenagers. For better or for worse, many of these technologies seem to have established themselves as a permanent component of...
A Guide for Parents: Supporting Transgender Teens
This article will attempt to answer common questions that parents may have about teen transgenderism. Though the subject of being transgender has recently gained increased attention due to various social movements and media coverage, transgenderism is something that...
A Guide for Parents of Teens with Gender Dysphoria
Being a parent of a teenager with gender dysphoria brings many challenges. Not only is it difficult to watch your child struggle with their identity, but it is often hard to know how to best support them. What is Gender Dysphoria The term “gender dysphoria” is...
Teen Self Harm – Warning Signs and Common Methods
Self-harm affects millions of people in this country. Yet the population with the highest number of self-harmers is adolescents and teenagers. Sadly, the topic of self-injury continues to be a carry a stigma, and thus, is rarely talked about. This unfortunately...
Generalized Anxiety Disorder in Teens
Worrying from time to time is a natural part of life. Yet, if the worry feels out of control, unmanageable, or negatively impacts your overall health and wellness, it is likely you are experiencing a more significant anxiety disorder. Anxiety disorders are amongst...
LGBTQ Youth and Mental Health Treatment
LGBTQ Youth Today, adolescents are coming out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) at higher rates than ever before, and at younger ages. With this trend, public awareness and therapeutic services for LGBTQ individuals have significantly...
Parenting Guide – Teens and Bipolar
What is Bipolar? Bipolar disorder is a mental health disorder characterized by dramatic or abnormal mood changes (or swings). The estimated number of teenagers with bipolar disorder is currently 2-3%. The mood changes typically fluctuate between major depression and...
How to Help a Teen With Depression
Depression is a very real condition and it is something that is uniquely likely to have an impact on teenagers. If you are a parent who believes that your teenager may be suffering from depression, it is important to get a diagnosis from a licensed professional and...
Discussing the Teenage Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic
When most people hear the term “drug abuse”, they immediately think of substances that can be bought on the street. Most of our educational and national dialogue efforts are focused on these drugs, and these are the drugs you hear about most often in the news. But...
Effectively Treating Eating Disorders in Teens
According to some recent studies, as many as 20 million American women and 10 million American men have suffered from some sort of clinically diagnosable eating disorder in their lifetime. Though many of these individuals have recovered, the fact that nearly...
Teen Depression Guide: Symptoms, Signs & Causes
No matter who you might be, the teenage years are inevitably a difficult time. You are constantly feeling the pressures of the outside world demanding you to form an identity, figure out your life, and conform to your surroundings while still remaining unique. But if...
Your Guide to Understanding Teen Rehabilitation
The topic of residential treatment is something few parents talk about with any sense of enthusiasm. But when teens are struggling with various psychological conditions, residential treatment programs can be the most valuable experience for long-term healing. If you...
Warning Signs of Bulimia in Teens
Statistically, the teenage years are the time in people’s lives that they are most likely to suffer from an eating disorder. These years are characterized by a tremendous amount of change. As teenagers struggle to establish their sense of self and gain a positive...
Eating Disorder Recovery Tips
Eating disorders are amongst the most common forms of teenage mental health disorders. The constant stress of establishing one’s identity, the external pressures to satisfy an impossible beauty standard, and the hormonal changes associated with puberty are all...
Transgender Identity Affirmation and Mental Health
The Relationship Between Transgender Identity Affirmation & Mental Health Whether we are willing to admit it as parents or not, gender and sex can both be very complicated subjects. Both gender and sex can complicate the life of a teenager, and if they identify as...
Symptoms of Bipolar Disorder in Teens
What are the symptoms of bipolar disorder in teens? Bipolar disorder is a condition that can impact both the individual who is diagnosed and their families. In fact, as many as 3% of all Americans will experience symptoms of bipolar disorder at least some point in...
Why Surgery Can Be the Gateway to Teen Opioid Addiction
Naturally, getting any sort of surgery is a complicated process that carries with it a unique risk of further complications. But one common complication that is often overlooked by many individuals in the medical field doesn’t come from the actual surgery itself,...
The Risky Combination of Mental Health Conditions and Substance Abuse
There is no denying the fact that mental health conditions are present in a significant number of American teenagers. But while some teenagers are able to find healthy ways to cope with their condition—whether it is with counseling, meditation, or taking their...
What is Evidence-Based Treatment and Why Does It Work for Teens?
Psychology is a field of study that is constantly changing. Over the past century, the relentless research efforts of psychologists around the world have transformed the discipline from one that was once largely based on subjective analytics to one that now...
Building a Community Around Mental Health – Finding a Support System for Your Teen
For anyone, having access to a community of supportive people and environments are crucial aspects of healthy living. This is especially true when it comes to teenagers. This is because adolescence is a crucial time in development in terms daily habits, balanced...
What Does Teenage Depression Feel Like?
Today, more and more teenagers are suffering from depression. It is estimated that, at any time, between 10-15% of teens encounter some level of depression. Many parents have teens that struggle with depression, and if you are one of them, you know it can be...
How to Handle Rejection After Coming Out to Your Parents
While some individuals are able to come out as queer to their families and be embraced with a tremendous amount of support, others are immediately ridiculed, rejected, and made to feel unloved. Individuals with non-binary gender identities or non-hetero sexual...
More Than Skin Deep: How Makeup Can Actually Help with Depression
The teenage years are difficult for both parents and teens alike. As a teenager, you are still trying to figure out who you are and how you want to display yourself to the world. As a parent, you want to give your teenager enough space to express themselves. Although,...
Why Have Teen Depression Rates Been Increasing?
Though teenagers now have more access to mental healthcare resources than they have ever had before, there is currently a major problem facing many Americans. Teenage depression rates have been gradually increasing over the past few decades, and parents,...
Important Things to Know as a Parent of a Teenager with Bipolar Disorder
Being a teenager with any sort of long-term psychological condition can be a difficult and frustrating experience. If you are a teenager with depression, anxiety, PTSD, or bipolar disorder, doing even the most mundane tasks—like getting out of bed in the...
Why More Teens Are Making Mental Health a Priority
One of the problems with treating mental health in the United States is the weight of the stigmas associated with receiving a diagnosis and treatment. Though our collective understanding of mental health conditions has tremendously improved over the past few...
4 Proven Ways to Improve Your Teen’s Mental Health
As human beings, there are simple, every day things we must do to survive. We have to drink water, eat food, and sleep. While we all may seem to innately know what to do in response to these physiological needs, responding to them can be a more difficult, easily...
How to Talk to Your Sibling About Their Sexual Identity
Unfortunately, the topic of sexual identity is still largely taboo in our society. For individuals who are LGBTQ, it can be difficult to confide in the people they normally trust. Having a sibling with an LGBTQ identity can inspire a wide range of emotions. Even if...
Transgender Identity Should Not Be Treated as a Mental Illness
In a nation that is just 300 years past believing that if a woman floated in water that means she is a witch, there is no denying that our society has quite frequently had a problem with incorrectly labeling things. When people are confronted with something that is...
‘Fandoms’ Can Be Surprisingly Beneficial for Teen Mental Health
To parents whose teens seem to be obsessed with a particular band, TV show, book/movie series, or character, it may be surprising to learn that this apparent ‘obsession’ is something that may be beneficial for their mental health. Fandoms—a portmanteau of the words...
Body Dysphoria
The Epidemic Behind Gender Dysphoria Imagine you are an insecure teenager and your body is rapidly going through changes. When you look in the mirror, you don’t like what you see. Although unlike standard insecurities teenagers deal with, this is different. You aren't...
Five Therapeutic Benefits of Art Programs for Teenagers
Experiential treatment methods are proven to be effective in helping teenagers combat the hopeless feelings experienced when suffering from mental illness. Creative therapies can help adolescents engage in the world around them, regaining control of their own lives....
Investigating Fidget Spinner Mania
Fidget spinners have become one of the most popular new products on the market. What is obvious at first glance is that—like a top, or a yo-yo, or a variety of other similar toys—fidget spinners can provide a fun diversion for both children and adults. But what is not...
Why Parents Need To Talk to Their Teens About Internet Addiction
The negative effects internet use has on teen mental health is being researched more and more every day. Talking with your teen can help to determine whether or not the internet has a negative impact on their life. Today, the internet and technology are constantly...
How to Talk With Your Teen About Alcohol
Bringing up the subject of drinking can be uncomfortable. That is why it is important to know what to avoid when opening up a discussion with your teen. When your child becomes a teenager, the role of being a parent can take a dynamic turn. Rather than helping them...
7 Ways Parents Can Help Teens with PTSD
Parenting Tips for Teens with PTSD Teenagers who have been exposed to traumatizing events are not immune to the effects of these events, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is no exception. PTSD is something that, even though it may have been years since the...
5 Grounding Techniques for Adolescents With Anxiety Disorder
Tips for Overcoming An Anxiety Attack: PTSD Grounding Exercises Raising a teen with an anxiety disorder can feel like a constant struggle. As a parent, you may be facing some extraordinarily difficult moments and may be unsure of how to effectively approach this...
Community Mental Health Center Los Angeles
Trusted Mental Health Care in Los Angeles Polaris Teen Center in Los Angeles, California, stands out when you’re looking for an effective mental health care. There are a number of reasons we’ve had success working with teens who suffer from anxiety disorders, eating...
Alcohol and Your Teen – Identifying Alcohol Abuse
Underage drinking is considered a serious health issue in this country. Alcohol is the most commonly abused substance when it comes to American youth, despite the legal drinking age being set at 21. In fact, in 2015, more than 30% of teens reported they had consumed...
Self Harm in Teenagers
As difficult as it can be to sometimes address, self harm in teenagers has become a major issue. In fact, according to some studies, patterns of self harm occur in as many as 1 in 5 females and 1 in 7 males each year. Because the teenage years are associated with high...
Gratitude
grat·i·tude noun: gratitude the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness. With the Santa Monica Mountains in the background, I gaze out my bay window, in the early morning hours. The sun is breaking through the clouds and...
Teen Eating Disorders
What Parents Need to Know about Teen Eating Disorders Despite the fact that many teens suffer from eating disorders, body image issues, and numerous other related problems, these issues often go entirely unaddressed. But just because talking about the current eating...
Substance Abuse in Adolescence
One of the most difficult things you can be forced to deal with as a parent is a teenager who begins to regularly engage in substance abuse behaviors. Though you may offer them an environment of love and support, doing this alone is often not enough. You may need to...
Talking About the Teen Depression Epidemic
If you are a parent of a teenager who is currently suffering from depression, it can be very difficult to know what to do or where to turn. Even though you may offer your teenager unconditional love and support, overcoming depression may require resources that are...
What Parents Need to Know about Teen Eating Disorders
Imagine for a moment, you’re an insecure teenager struggling to fit into the world and a parent tells you that you need to loose ten pounds. Afterwards, every time you look in the mirror you see your body as being ‘fat and ugly’. Suddenly you are obsessed with loosing...
Los Angeles Mental Health
There are many Los Angeles mental health facilities, including several that focus on teen treatment. So, what sets Polaris Teen apart? Why send your teen to Polaris Teen when he or she is struggling with depression, anxiety, OCD, Asperger’s, anxiety disorders or any...
Identifying Teen Mood Disorders
Teen Mood Disorders Adolescence has always had its challenges. It's a time of transition, a time of rapid growth, a time when changing bodies and changing hormones collide full speed with peer pressure. There's an increasing need for independence and a desire to...
Talking With Your Teens
Imagine for a minute, your teenager comes home from school, stomps off to their room without saying hello or uttering a single word. Naturally you would be concerned and want to know why are they so upset. So you knock and they yell through the door, for you to leave...
Teen Alcohol Abuse: Finding the Right Treatment Center
If you believe your teen has a drinking problem, finding the right teen treatment center could be a lifesaver. It can be hard to admit that your teen’s drinking problem has gotten out of hand – and it can be even harder to admit that help is needed. Choosing a teen...
Top Treatment Centers
Top Treatment Centers Are you a parent or guardian whose teen is struggling with drug or alcohol abuse and want to find the top teenage residential treatment center Los Angeles has to offer? There are many teen programs available in Los Angeles, but you need to do...
Teen Rehab
When to Seek Help If your teen is struggling with a possible addiction, it can be tough to know where to turn for help. As a parent, you might feel conflicted on which “next step” is the best step. Is their behavior putting them in danger of serious addiction? Or is...