How to Know When Your Teen Needs Clinical Intervention

The term clinical refers to help provided to teens by mental health professionals. The term intervention refers to therapy techniques and therapeutic programs specializing in providing help to a troubled teen. 

When the two words are put together, clinical intervention describes numerous professional methods designed to help a teen who is having problems they can’t or aren’t handling successfully on their own. When this happens, adults have to intervene to provide the much-needed help, which comes in a variety of different forms. 

Teens who are suffering often do not get better on their own and the sooner they get help, the better chance they have to heal successfully. The best clinical intervention for a teen at any particular time depends on the specific problems they are experiencing, how long they have existed and how severe they are.

Common reasons teenagers might need clinical intervention include:

• Anxiety
• Depression
• Cutting
• Alcohol and/or drug use
• Suicidal thoughts or behavior
• Not eating or binge-eating
• Acting out
• Violent behavior
• Not sleeping enough or having trouble getting out of bed
• Loss of interest in normal activities, particularly activities that normally bring enjoyment

There is a wide range of clinical interventions to help teens, depending on the severity of the problem, including:

• Self-help books
• Psychiatric hospital
• Individual therapy
• Group therapy 
• Psychological evaluation 
• 12-step programs

There are several available types of therapy for your teen. Here are the most common:

• Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), which focuses on helping teens to change their negative or harmful thinking patterns to positive ones. CBT is especially good for teens with depression and anxiety.
• Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which helps teens take responsibility for their own behavior and problems. DBT is particularly helpful for teens with borderline personality disorder or who engage in suicidal thoughts or self-harming behavior.
• Family therapy, which helps the entire family learn how to support the teen and stop enabling her problematic behaviors.
• Group therapy, which can help your teen learn to cope in a more social setting.
• Interpersonal therapy, which focuses on how life events affect your teen's emotions and then works to solve problems in relationships.
• Psychoanalytic psychotherapy, which involves figuring out the internal struggles your teen has that are causing the issues and what is motivating his behavior and thoughts.

Clinical intervention can have several different focuses, including:

• Solving a specific problem
• Improving your teen's potential to deal with the behaviors, thoughts and/or feelings that are causing him difficulty
• Preventing a specific problem
• Helping your teen find mental balance, peace, and happiness in her life to cope with her circumstances

If you think your teen is having issues that could need outside help, here are some questions to ask yourself to help determine whether or not he may need clinical intervention:

• When did the problem start and how long has it been going on?
• Did anything trigger the problem, like the loss of a loved one, divorce or a move?
• How much is the problem affecting your teen's life? Is she just sad or is she struggling to get out of bed in the morning and losing all enjoyment for activities she used to love?
• Is there evidence of extreme anxiety, depression, lack of energy, changes in behavior, eating or sleeping difficulties that have been going on for more than two weeks?
• Is your teen using drugs or abusing alcohol and/or engaging in risky behaviors?

If you think your teen may need clinical intervention, be sure to seek it earlier rather than later. The sooner you deal with your teen's difficulties, the sooner he will be on a road to healing.