Teen Health Glossary

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT therapy) is based on a psychological theory of human language. A 2015 review...

Acute stress disorder is more persistent and much more intense than the routine stress that many teenagers experience....

Adderall abuse is the use of the prescription medication for non-medical purposes. Given the energizing properties of the...

Addiction is a chronic disease that afflicts people of all ages. More than 5 million American adolescents suffer...

ADHD is an acronym that stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. As it is one of the most...

Adjustment disorder can impact adolescents. It’s natural for teenagers to have some degree of difficulty adjusting to big...

Adventure therapy is an experiential therapeutic approach that uses challenges in the outdoors as a tool for change....

Anger in teenagers can be a normal part of maturing, and it can also be a signal that...

Anorexia nervosa has the highest death rate of any mental illness, including all other eating disorders. Although anorexia...

An anxiety attack is a behavioral manifestation of an anxiety disorder. Teens often have anxiety attacks that are...

Art therapy can be particularly effective with teenagers who tend to view art-making activities as a nonthreatening form...

Attachment disorder can influence maladaptive behaviors. The most significant relationship in shaping mental health is the relationship formed...

Attachment-Based Family Therapy (ABFT) is heavily influenced by John Bowlby’s attachment theory. This posits that humans have an...

Atypical depression is one category of depression. What’s happening in a person’s life strongly affects atypical depression and...

Autism spectrum disorder is 4.5 times more common among boys than among girls. According to the Centers for...

Bath salts drugs should not be confused with Epsom salts, which people use in their bathwater. Rather, bath...

Behavioral disorders refer to a group of disorders with symptoms that include various behavior problems. According to the...

Benzodiazepine abuse is the misuse and abuse of a class of drugs that are commonly prescribed to treat...

Although binge eating disorder (BED) is the most common of all the eating disorders in the United States,...

Bipolar disorder can be hard to detect in adolescence, since teens go through emotional ups and downs. Experiencing...

Body dysmorphia—having a distorted body image—is a common disorder on the obsessive-compulsive spectrum. It usually starts at a...

Body image issues in teens tend to result from the toxic combination of a distorted self-image, a poor...

Borderline personality disorder can dramatically impact the teen years. Teens with borderline personality disorder have a hard time...

Brief psychotic disorder, also known as brief reactive psychosis, is typically diagnosed in those in their late 20s...

The Brown & Lewis Developmental Stages of Recovery is the work of Stephanie Brown, PhD, and Virginia Lewis,...

Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder that is difficult to diagnose without behavioral evidence. Although there are signs...

Bullying can occur in many forms and situations. Types of bullying include physical bullying, verbal bullying, social bullying,...

Cannabidiol, known by the acronym CBD, is an alternative medical treatment used for a variety of conditions. Specifically,...

CBT is the acronym for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. The term “cognitive” comes from the Latin “cognoscere,” meaning “to...

Childhood trauma can often be traced back to a parent-child relational problem. When teens have trauma as a...

Club drugs are among the most common recreational drugs used among teens, along with alcohol and marijuana. This...

The intense effects of cocaine as a powerful stimulant can have an overwhelming impact on a first-time user....

Codependency is a concept first developed in Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), to describe the way in which dysfunctional family...

Crack cocaine use remains widespread. Data reported in the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse indicates that more...

Culinary Arts refer to a craft in the Western world developed during the Renaissance. Frenchman Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin...

Day schools that are specifically designed as recovery high schools have been gaining in popularity as a continuing...

DBT is the acronym for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy. Originally designed to treat chronically suicidal individuals diagnosed with borderline...

Delusional disorders involve bizarre delusions, in which a person cannot distinguish between what is real and what is...

Depressant abuse occurs among nearly 8 percent of 12th graders, with Xanax as the most popular depressant drug...

Dissociative Identity Disorder was known as multiple personality disorder or split personality until 1994, when the name was...

Dysfunctional family is a term used to refer to a wide range of family issues that create tension...

Dysthymia affects people of all ages, including children and teens. While occasional sadness or a sense of feeling...

Eating disordered (ED) behavior, also known as disordered eating, has become increasingly more common in adolescents and teenagers....

Eating disorders are life-threatening illnesses, widely misunderstood in popular culture. The severe physical consequences of such a disorder...

Ecstasy is a popular drug with teenagers, typically used at dance clubs and in the underground party scene....

EFT is the acronym for Emotional Freedom Technique. Introduced by Gary Craig in 1993 and developed through his...

EMDR stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy. EMDR therapy was formulated in 1987. The originator and...

Stress is a common emotional, psychological, and physical response. It can come with the ups and downs of...

Equine-assisted therapy is particularly powerful for teens because it allows them to address emotions and issues through a...

Experiential therapy was developed as a therapeutic approach in the 1970s. Based on the open-minded zeitgeist of that...

The family systems approach is a theory developed by psychiatrist Murray Bowen in the 1950s. Specifically, Dr. Bowen...

Gender dysphoria was previously referred to as “gender identity disorder.” In 2012, the term was changed in the...

Gender identity disorder (GID) is a term that is no longer used by mental health professionals. In 2012,...

Gender-specific treatment addresses the different experiences that men and women have with respect to gender and addiction. The...

Teens with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) typically experience excessive worrying and low self-esteem. The most common teen anxiety...

Heroin abuse and heroin addiction are on the rise among Americans. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services...

Holistic treatment provides an alternative or complementary approach to Western healthcare. A National Institute of Health study showed...

Horticulture as a therapeutic tool can be traced back to Dr. Benjamin Rush, recognized as the “father of...

Inhalant abuse, also known as huffing, is unusual in that it is most common among younger adolescents and...

Intensive outpatient treatment, also referred to as an intensive outpatient program, is often abbreviated with the acronym IOP....

Internet addiction is not yet officially recognized as a disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental...

Major depression is a severe depression that can incapacitate those who are suffering. People with major depression find...

Abuse of marijuana is at an all-time high among young people. According to the most recent Monitoring the...

Martial arts group is beneficial for teen mental health. A martial arts group practices physical exercise systems that...

Meditation is a powerful tool for enhancing teen mental health. In fact, a meditation study at Johns Hopkins...

Melancholic depression is a serious mental health problem that causes persistent feelings of sadness and loss of interest...

Mentalization is a therapeutic approach that has been shown to help people suffering from borderline personality disorder (BPD)....

Teen methamphetamine abuse can lead to addiction very quickly, because the drug alters the brain in ways that...

Mindfulness meditation and mindfulness exercises are effective alternative forms of pain relief and stress relief. Therefore, doctors have...

Minor depression can impact adolescents. Being a teenager is hard. All teens experience sadness or feelings of low...

Mood disorders are common in the teen years. Adolescence is a time of turbulence and strong emotions. These...

Motivational Interviewing (MI) is a form of substance use disorder treatment defined in 1983 by American clinical psychologist...

Multidimensional Family Therapy (MDFT) has been proven to address a range of teen problem behaviors, from mental health...

Multiple Personality Disorder is now referred to as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic...

Music therapy with a trained music therapist is beneficial for teens. Many recent studies have shown the positive...

Narcissistic personality disorder is believed to affect around 6 percent of people nationwide, but is more prevalent in...

Obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) is a common anxiety disorder that affects both teens and adults. OCD afflicts two...

Opioid abuse and opioid addiction have led to an opioid crisis in the United States. Every day, 90...

Oppositional Defiant Disorder in a teen is different from the frustrated outbursts or moody behavior that many teens...

Outpatient treatment offers clients the chance to practice relapse-prevention techniques in the real world during the treatment process....

OxyContin is an extended-release version of oxycodone, a narcotic painkiller. OxyContin is generally considered to be the prescription...

A panic attack, also called a panic disorder, can either be triggered or can occur unexpectedly. Unexpected panic...

Panic disorder symptoms are quite common. Every year, close to six million Americans experience panic disorder. Panic attacks...

Parental alienation is caused by the psychological manipulation of an alienated child or teen into showing unwarranted fear,...

Person-Centered Humanistic Therapy is a therapeutic modality developed in the 1940s by American psychologist Carl Rogers. Rogers based...

Phobias and fears are relatively common disorders, and a comprehensive list of phobias would be quite extensive. According...

Post-Induction Therapy is a therapeutic modality developed by Pia Mellody in the 1970s. Specifically, Post-Induction Therapy treats the...

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) affects 7.7 million American adults each year. PTSD is most commonly associated with military...

Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, a severe form of premenstrual syndrome, affects about 5 percent of women of childbearing age,...

Prescription drug abuse includes many types of drug misuse, from taking another person’s ADHD medication to snorting or...

The Prochaska DiClemente Stages are named after the founders of the stages of change model. Specifically, this model...

Psychoeducation rose to prominence in the mid-1980s in Germany, where the psychoeducational model evolved into a program of...

Psychosis is more common than many people might think. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, approximately...

Relapse is a common occurrence among those in recovery from alcohol or drug abuse. According to drug relapse...

Relationship addiction, or love addiction, is also known as codependency. In 1988, psychiatrist Timmen Cermak suggested that codependency...

Residential treatment services can be traced back to the work of Anna Freud, the daughter of Sigmund Freud,...

Teen Ritalin use suppresses appetite, increases wakefulness, and enhances focus and attention. Therefore, it is abused by teens...

Schizoaffective disorder is diagnosed in about .3 percent of the population. Teen schizoaffective disorder is very hard to...

Season Affective Disorder (SAD) is a type of seasonal depression brought on by cold weather. Therefore, Seasonal Affective...

The urge to self-harm is not uncommon, especially in adolescents and teenagers. Once self-injury, including cutting and self-mutilation,...

Sex addiction, also known as hypersexuality, is not an official clinical diagnosis. Experts consider sex addiction to be...

Often referred to as social phobia, social anxiety disorder is when a person is overcome with fear and...

Being addicted to social media is a real threat in today’s modern world. Social media sites are virtual...

Somatic Therapy, also referred to as ‘somatic counseling’ is a type of therapy that focuses on the connection...

Spice is a chemically produced drug made to look like marijuana. Synthetic cannabinoids are sprayed on plant material...

Medical professionals agree that any form of performance-enhancing steroid use should be categorized as steroid abuse. The National...

Stimulants are a category of substances that includes both illicit and prescription drugs. For teens, stimulants can be...

Suicidal thoughts are much more common than most people would imagine. Thoughts of ending one’s life, or of...

Teen suicide attempts demand a proactive response to safeguard lives. Failed suicide attempts leave behind emotional trauma that...

Parents may desperately want to help teens who are struggling with substance abuse or mental health challenges, but...

Teen yoga has been shown to improve both physical and mental health in adolescents. Like yoga for adults,...

Teen anxiety affects most adolescents at one time or another. Being anxious before a big test or nervous...

Thought disorder reflects a pattern of disorganized thoughts, often indicated by a flight of ideas or so-called “word...

Trauma can arise from a wide variety of frightening or difficult events. These can range from common circumstances,...

Trichotillomania is a hair-pulling disorder that typically begins between the ages of 9 and 13, and peaks between...

Video game addiction is not yet recognized by the American Medical Association as a diagnosable disorder. However, recent...