Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Oh My!

We have come a long way in a short time.  These days trolls are lurking everywhere.  You don’t need to see a new study which shows that teenagers who spend hours a day on social media are at an increased risk of suffering from poor sleep and symptoms of depression.  Recently, the British released a study of 14 year old girls who were found to have a 50% increase in depression when they used social media at least five hours a day!

Among boys, the heaviest social media users showed a one-third increase in depression and its related symptoms.  The gender difference has been noted among psychologists as “alarming”.  The bottom line here is this…teens that reported using social media most (especially girls) almost universally have problems sleeping and suffer from some type of depression.

New York area child psychologist Dr. Steven Sussman is NOT trying to change the world…just help your kid(s) cope with the “social media bombardment”.  Growing up you could not possibly have seen this coming.  Dr. Sussman has dealt with it for years.  Please call him for an appointment at his Staten Island or Mountainside NJ office at (908) 217-8106.

Your Complicated Teen.

Maybe we should say just teenager…which one is NOT complicated.  Come on, think back to your own teenage years!  The parents of today’s Baby Boomers rarely sought out therapy for their complicated teen.  It was a completely different time.  If they did, the sessions were generally done privately and not in groups.

Why do today’s teens with social problems often fall behind from individual therapy?  The Journal of Clinical Psychology did an interesting study on this problem.  Over a 20-year period they reported that group therapy was more effective with children and teenagers than other forms.  It reports that the average child or adolescent treated by group treatment was better off than 73 percent of those who were not.

Dr. Steven Sussman believes in group therapy for teenagers.  It is not “one size fits all,” but over the decades he has discovered that kids who suffer from things like bullying, shyness, anger management, and many other issues are better off in a group setting.  Contact New York/New Jersey child psychologist Dr. Steven Sussman to discuss a session at (908) 217-8106.