Stress / Question
Published: March 29, 2007
Dear TeenHealthFX,
Everything is going wrong for me. I have friends I can't trust anymore, since I started high school I have been doing bad in all subjects and I was a great student in my old middle school, my parents are yelling at me all the time about my grades, I do so many extracurricular activities that I am pressed for time, and people think I m weird and a loser sometimes. I’ve talk to my mom about these and it made me feel a little better, I still feel depressed and overwhelmed and still no one else cares. PLEASE HELP!!!
Signed: Stressed and Overwhlemed
Dear Stressed and Overwhlemed,
TeenHealthFX is sorry to hear that you are feeling like so much is going wrong right now between your friends, grades, and extracurricular activities. FX understands that high school, and adolescence in general, can be a very difficult time – however, it also seems that with a little time and effort many teens can start to feel like things are coming together in a really good way!
Since talking with your mother helped you to feel a little better, FX recommends that you talk to her even more. If you haven’t done so already, let her know the extent to which you are feeling stressed and overwhelmed, and that the two of you to work together in order to come up with a plan on making some positive changes. You might want to talk with your parents about some alternate ways in which they could respond to your grades that would feel more helpful to you, and maybe look at cutting back on some of your extra-curricular activities if you are feeling like you are under too much pressure.
FX also recommends that you consider speaking with a mental health professional to help you to better understand what is contributing to issues right now with friends and grades – as well as to help you to develop some new coping skills. If you try and have trouble doing so on your own, a counselor could also meet with you and your parents to discuss ways in which they could respond to you or treat you in a way that helps to alleviate some of the stress you are under.
If you live in northern
Signed: TeenHealthFX
Teens whose parents talk to them regularly about the dangers of drugs are 42% less likely to use drugs than those whose parents don’t, yet only 1 in 4 teens report having these conversations. 
