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A Parent's Guide for Suicidal and Depressed Teens: Help for Recognizing If a Child Is in Crisis and What to Do About It
Ms. Williams helps those of us who are parents recognize the signs of a child in crisis; how to find immediate, effective help; and how to deal with ongoing adolescent issues, including depression.
220 pages, Paperback
First published March 8, 1995
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About the author
Kate Williams
131 books2 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 26, 2015
Now some of you may be going, "Roni, you're not parenting a depressed teenager, why did you read this?". So yes, you're right. I have no real reason to read this book. Moreover, I can't really test out the advice in this book.
I stumbled on this book by accident but felt drawn to it. It's occurred to me this week that a significant amount of my friends have mental illnesses. In a way, I wanted to hear what this book had to say. I've also found myself being fascinated by the mere existence of this book. We are all unique and want to believe our thoughts and feeling are unique. Yet this book is a guide for how to help suicidal teens, as if everyone wants to die because of the same, manageable, reasons.
Honestly? This book wasn't for me. I felt like this book was kind of shallow. I'm sure it'll be helpful for parents who are dealing with this but for me, a teenager without children, I felt like i wanted to scream that its more complicated. It's not just that you magically go to therapy and find mantras and it all goes away. The solutions felt so freaking fake, like draw a picture of your family. Really? Jesus Christ.
Also, I'm a big believer in the fact that people's bodies are theirs. I truly think that if someone wants to kill themselves, its their right. It's their body and their life. As long as that person is chemically stable, above a certain age and aware of themselves, I think its their choice whether and how to live. So yeah, I'm not the audience for this book.
I did enjoy the reminder of how when you hurt yourself you're hurting everyone around you. Then again, if you're suffering and want to die but you stay alive because you know you'll hurt your parents, isn't that care taking? It's putting them in front of your needs.
I wanted to see what a grown up woman who's dealing with this stuff would say about suicide. Instead, in this reasonably sized book, she manages not to talk truly about suicide. She analyzes why maybe teenagers want to die (I disagreed with some of them but okay). She doesn't offer any reason not to. She doesn't really help others understand what it feels like.
I'm being harsh. I'll just say, if you're not parenting a depressed teen, this probably isn't the book for you. Go read Series of Unfortunate Events or something. If you are, give this a try. Then read Matt Haig's (I think that's his name? im on mobile) book Reasons to Stay Alive, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Pete Wentz's Gray.They truly offer a glimpse into that world.
I stumbled on this book by accident but felt drawn to it. It's occurred to me this week that a significant amount of my friends have mental illnesses. In a way, I wanted to hear what this book had to say. I've also found myself being fascinated by the mere existence of this book. We are all unique and want to believe our thoughts and feeling are unique. Yet this book is a guide for how to help suicidal teens, as if everyone wants to die because of the same, manageable, reasons.
Honestly? This book wasn't for me. I felt like this book was kind of shallow. I'm sure it'll be helpful for parents who are dealing with this but for me, a teenager without children, I felt like i wanted to scream that its more complicated. It's not just that you magically go to therapy and find mantras and it all goes away. The solutions felt so freaking fake, like draw a picture of your family. Really? Jesus Christ.
Also, I'm a big believer in the fact that people's bodies are theirs. I truly think that if someone wants to kill themselves, its their right. It's their body and their life. As long as that person is chemically stable, above a certain age and aware of themselves, I think its their choice whether and how to live. So yeah, I'm not the audience for this book.
I did enjoy the reminder of how when you hurt yourself you're hurting everyone around you. Then again, if you're suffering and want to die but you stay alive because you know you'll hurt your parents, isn't that care taking? It's putting them in front of your needs.
I wanted to see what a grown up woman who's dealing with this stuff would say about suicide. Instead, in this reasonably sized book, she manages not to talk truly about suicide. She analyzes why maybe teenagers want to die (I disagreed with some of them but okay). She doesn't offer any reason not to. She doesn't really help others understand what it feels like.
I'm being harsh. I'll just say, if you're not parenting a depressed teen, this probably isn't the book for you. Go read Series of Unfortunate Events or something. If you are, give this a try. Then read Matt Haig's (I think that's his name? im on mobile) book Reasons to Stay Alive, Sylvia Plath's The Bell Jar and Pete Wentz's Gray.They truly offer a glimpse into that world.
Displaying 1 of 1 review