Successful Treatment for High-Functioning Autism Spectrum

By sunrisertc|2024-03-04T16:59:09-06:00November 29th, 2011|Autism Spectrum / Aspergers|

Many programs that treat emotional and behavioral disorders will not accept students with high-functioning autism-spectrum disorders like Aspergerâ€™s Syndrome, referring those students instead to programs that deal exclusively with neurobiological issues. This effectively segregates young people with autism-spectrum disorders from other populations. â€œI think that in many cases, this is a mistakeâ€¦a missed opportunity,â€ says Utah-based psychotherapist, David Prior, LMFT. â€œMy preference is to judiciously mix different populations in a treatment setting so that patients are challenged to learn new styles of interacting with different kinds of people. This is especially true with spectrum disorders.â€

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Giving Thanks on Thanksgiving

By sunrisertc|2024-03-04T14:38:07-06:00November 21st, 2011|Life at Sunrise|

While gratitude has been long been celebrated as a spiritual and philosophical virtue, psychologists are discovering that an attitude of thanksgiving can also have a powerful, positive impact on psychological well being. Researchers credit the act of giving thanks with everything from stronger parent-child relationships and more satisfying friendships to better sex.

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Healthy Recreation Habits for When your Teen Comes Home

By sunrisertc|2024-03-04T16:59:13-06:00November 11th, 2011|Transition|

ccording to certified recreational therapist, Corey Hickman, todayâ€™s teens are experiencing a recreational crisis. â€œThe students I see nowadays typically engage in recreation almost exclusively from a seated position,â€ says Hickman, who is the residential life director for Sunrise RTC, a treatment program for adolescent girls with emotional and behavioral issues. â€œMany of our students arrive at Sunrise addicted to video games, television, or social media,â€ says Hickman, â€œwhich typically means that theyâ€™re not engaged in more physical or social forms of recreation.â€

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Lying and Adolescence

By sunrisertc|2024-03-04T16:20:20-06:00November 4th, 2011|Relationships|

NEVER TRUST AN ADOLESCENT! Okay, I should qualify that. In general, donâ€™t offer complete and unreserved trust to a teenager. Why not? For the same reason you shouldnâ€™t fully trust someone to fly a plane if theyâ€™ve never flown a plane before. Teens are a bit like untested pilots. They are in the cockpit of a powerful machine--namely their rapidly morphing bodies and brains--that is new, powerful, and a bit out of their control. Theyâ€™re still learning what all those levers and buttons do and how to navigate, steer, and land without crashing.

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ODD vs Normal Teen Arguing

By sunrisertc|2011-11-02T10:04:23-06:00November 2nd, 2011|Relationships|

Arguing, says Hinman, is not only normal adolescent behavior--itâ€™s developmentally necessary. Adolescence is a time of experimenting with and forging new levels of autonomy. Part of that process is learning how to express independent opinions that run contrary to those in authority. Your job is to help guide that behavior so that it evolves into normal adult independence, rather than chronic contrarianism or a disorder like ODD (oppositional defiant disorder). So as far as effective parenting goes, the question is not whether or not your adolescent will argue with you (they will), but how you should engage that behavior.

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Signs of PTSD in Teens

By sunrisertc|2011-10-29T09:48:42-06:00October 29th, 2011|Trauma|

PTSD is marked by chronic, persistent, and sometimes debilitating emotional distress related to a traumatic event. Once almost exclusively associated with soldiers returning from battle, PTSD is a diagnosis assigned to people in all walks of life, including children and teens.

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Your Teen is Away: Learn to Sleep Again!

By sunrisertc|2011-10-15T10:11:29-06:00October 15th, 2011|Tips for Families|

If your child is away in treatment, you may still be suffering from the sleep distress that was a part of being vigilant and worried. If so, nowâ€™s the time to reclaim your right to a good nightâ€™s sleep! Your child is safe and, for the time being, itâ€™s someone elseâ€™s job to be vigilant around the clock. A huge part of every parentsâ€™ job when their child is in treatment is to prepare for their return home. Youâ€™re a better parent (and employee, and friend, and everything) when youâ€™re taking good care of yourself. Sleep is at the core of self care; so nowâ€™s a great time to practice good sleep habits. I joke that learning to fall asleep and stay asleep has saved me thousands of dollars in carpentry, refrigerator repair, fly trapsâ€¦oh and plastic surgery. So if youâ€™re a light sleeper, an insomniac, or curfew cop on sabbatical, here are some things Iâ€™ve learned that will help you sleep like a baby.

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Exercising a Teen’s "Willpower Muscle"

By sunrisertc|2011-10-07T10:25:01-06:00October 7th, 2011|ADHD, Tips for Families|

We all experience lapses in self control. For a teenager who is struggling with other emotional issues, however, even a small lapseâ€”whether in the form of procrastinating, eating something not on the diet, or engaging in a compulsive behaviorâ€”can create a sense of defeat, adding to her feelings of depression and worthlessness.

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Adoption, Trauma and Attachment Disorder in Teens

By sunrisertc|2011-09-26T08:35:59-06:00September 26th, 2011|Adoption & Attachment|

Adoption is a beautiful and redemptive event, but itâ€™s one that does involve loss. For the child, the loss is not remembered but itâ€™s also not forgotten; it can operate as an invisible force and, therefore, has to be brought to consciousness so that it can be dealt with. Often there is loss on both sidesâ€”the parents inability to have children and the childâ€™s loss of her biological family. For the teen, we work to help her realize that she is continuing to behave as if she is going to be abandoned at any moment. We try to help her understand the very real (but until then mysterious) source of her fears, and then to distinguish between real and imagined threats of abandonment.

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Argumentative Adolescents: The Good News and the Bad News

By sunrisertc|2024-03-05T17:09:46-06:00September 19th, 2011|Relationships|

When parents reach a point where occasional arguing morphs into chronic defiance, they may not have any opportunities to make relational deposits. A chronically defiant teen will simply not allow positive interactions. Itâ€™s at this point, when lost ground cannot be recovered, that outside help from a therapist, clergy person or other trusted adult may be necessary for a parent to regain positive access to the relational account.

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