One Quarter of Teen Girls Meet Criteria for In-Patient Admission; ‘We Don’t Have Enough Hospital Beds,’ Doctor Says
Cheryl L. Green, M.D., quotes jarring statistics when discussing the current mental health crisis among teens: 30% of America’s teenage girls have contemplated suicide in the past year; 24% had suicidal thoughts “with a plan,” which meets the criteria for in-patient admission, she explained.
“Professional help is in short supply right now because it’s such a crisis,” she said in a recent interview. “We don’t have enough hospital beds; we don’t have enough child and adolescent psychiatrists. So the question becomes, how can parents help right here, right now? And there are a lot of things parents can do.”
In her critically important new book, Heal Your Daughter: How Lifestyle Psychiatry Can Save Her from Depression, Cutting, and Suicidal Thoughts, Dr. Green empowers parents with lifestyle psychiatry strategies that can be used in conjunction with traditional therapies or as standalone support.
“Lifestyle Psychiatry can supplement in-patient psychiatric treatment as usual, after they are out, but can’t replace in-patient admission if your child is truly suicidal with a plan,” Dr. Green cautioned. “It goes a long way toward preventing that from ever happening, which is critical, considering our teens have been experiencing grave problems in their mental health for over a decade, and the recent pandemic greatly deepened what was already a crisis.”
In Heal Your Daughter, Dr. Green addresses the unique stress factors impacting teenage girls and gives parents or other caregivers six concrete ways to help their daughters develop health-promoting, depression-reversing habits.
She begins by explaining the new field of lifestyle psychiatry, and provides state of the art, evidence-based information and guidance related to six lifestyle domains: nutrition, detoxification, exercise, sleep, emotional connectedness, and stress reduction.
“The good news is that healing, even from the worst disasters of childhood and early adolescence, is possible,” Dr. Green said. “The early traumas that life inflicts need not be ‘managed’ with ever-escalating doses of psychiatric medications; I believe that they actually can be healed — completely or almost completely healed. There is every reason for hope.”
Dr. Green explains that the method outlined in her book doesn’t require a diagnosis. It is drug-free and affordable. And perhaps most importantly, it offers new hope to those who have given up on psychiatry and on the traditional mental health care system.
“Teen girls with depression are often overwhelmed, and are unable to help themselves,” Dr. Green added. “But you, the caregiver, can help them take tiny steps in the six domains described in the book. The more tiny steps taken, the closer teen girls can come to reclaiming the foundations of their physical and mental health.”
Ultimately, Heal Your Daughter and its companion book, The Heal Your Daughter Workbook, aim to make important new contributions to society’s collective understanding and support of today’s girls.
About the Author
Dr. Cheryl L. Green is a lifestyle psychiatrist based in Southern California. She works part time at the Loma Linda University School of Medicine, and part time in her own private practice based in the greater Los Angeles area. She holds degrees from Harvard University (A.B.), Princeton University (Ph.D.) and Stanford University School of Medicine (M.D.). She is board certified in Psychiatry, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, and Lifestyle Medicine. Her passion is inspiring others to achieve vibrant physical and mental health. She can be found online on her website, www.CherylLGreenMD.com.
Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Heal-Your-Daughter-Psychiatry-Depression/dp/1667871242/
Heal Your Daughter: How Lifestyle Psychiatry Can Save Her from Depression, Cutting, and Suicidal Thoughts
Publisher: BookBaby Press
ISBN-10: 1667871242
ISBN-13: 978-1667871240
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and other retailers
The Heal Your Daughter Workbook: Six Weeks to Feeling Good with Lifestyle Psychiatry
Publisher: BookBaby Press
ISBN-10: 1667871269
ISBN-13: 978-1667871264
Available from Amazon.com, BN.com and other retailers
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Reviews, photos, links to previous interviews and Q&As are available upon request.
