Skip to main content

Resources on Teen Anxiety and Depression

 


While reading these two books, I had numerous flashbacks of burdens shared by parents and youth. I was even reminded of my own teenage struggles. Even better though are David's solutions; His writing is relatable, biblical, and practical. I wish I read this book as a youth. He clears away the mystery of teen anxiety and depression in bite-sized chapters, only 5-6 pages each.

These books hit a sweet spot for a stressed, anxious, and depressed generation of teens. They are written by Bible Teacher and Counselor, David Murray, to help parents and teens face these problems head-on. Each chapter tells a story of a struggling youth who found help in God's word to navigate through their issues. 

I especially connected with chapter four, "Imaginative Imogen." David discussed how our minds are like a movie theater, constantly playing a movie, and some teens endlessly replay movies of past trauma, horrific hypothetical situations, or graphic images so that anxiety and guilt thrive. Many teens want to press the stop button, but it doesn't seem to work. Instead, scripture's solution is that we replace those images; God gives us movies to play about his faithfulness in creation and in his promises (Matthew 6:25-34). The chapter wraps up with tips on how teens can make this replacement and how parents can help.

These two books mirror each other so that parents and teens can read together, but they are not the same book. The parent book helps you understand your teen's struggle and how you can guide them as a coach and not an enemy. The youth book is more conversational and encourages them to allow trusted adults (and doctors) to assist them. I recommend picking up both. If cost is a hurdle, I would be glad to help! Here's where I bought them.


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Church's Ongoing Pandemic

Photo Credit  People don’t go to church for a lot of reasons, but a Christian without a church is a Christian in trouble. Sadly, the number of professing Christians is far larger than the number who attend weekly meetings. Many churches experienced an acceleration of this trend during Covid as well: professing Christians have returned to school, work, and leisure, but have not returned for regular church gatherings. Why? Everyone is a unique case in the specifics, but there are trends we see in the wake of the pandemic: people have elevated political and medical (mask & vaccine) opinions over faith commitments and demoted their faith so it is not the primary identity marker in their life. What does this mean for the church? Is it doomed? I don’t think so, but Christians need to rediscover that the church can have different political and medical opinions, but still love each other, be on mission, and gather for Jesus. Christians need to remember that the fact that Jesus died on th

October - November 2019: Ministry, Finals, & Family Visits

October and November were filled to the brim with ministry, finals, and family visits. Here are the highlights! In October, we started out with a weekend retreat with the youth. The theme was "Love your neighbor [across the aisle]." We talked about how Jesus' ethic of love even applies to politics in the heat of political fervor. We had a photo scavenger hunt, ate too many snacks, and enjoyed each other's company on top of it all. Please pray that we would be a light in the upcoming dark season in America: presidential election season. Here is a game of chair basketball the kids got REALLY into. (Maybe even a little too much) Here's a photo of some strong high school youth  completing a "push up challenge" for the scavenger hunt. Also, Amber and I invested in some bird seed and feeders to enjoy birds on our deck. Here's some of the best photos we could snap: House Finches Sometimes you watch birds and sometimes birds watch you

Christians & Same Sex Marriage: BUT WHAT IF I ACTUALLY MEET A SSM COUPLE!?!

        My prayer is that your reaction is severely less panic stricken than the title of this article. In truth, heterosexuals share immense common ground with people in the LGBT community. Starting such a friendship is nearly identical to other friendships. Jesus wouldn’t react as the title suggests, because he would arguably be the  front-runner  in initiating these friendships.     Photo Credit             Our interactions should be chaperoned by uncomplicated Christian truths. I don’t have a corner on the market of LGBT ministry, but here are 5 principles that have helped me significantly:                                                                                                                              1)       Don’t be ashamed of the Gospel. We must not be ashamed of the message that offers true hope and change. We should lay our concern for reputation down for the surpassing worth of walking in the footsteps of Jesus, offering hope to sinners. We ca