His mental health has been deteriorating for a while, as his baffled parents look on helplessly. He’s rebellious, just overcome by social anxiety and depression. What now?
“I
don’t know what to do with Danny. He’s been sitting in his room in the dark for weeks. He’s hostile and controlling and we’re all afraid of approaching him because he sometimes flies off the handle. Can you help us?” It was a plea from Danny’s brokenhearted and confused mother to Rabbi Gavriel Hershoff director of Aish Tamid of Los Angeles an organization that helps teens at risk and young adults find themselves and become productive members of society.
Rabbi Hershoff a social worker and substance-abuse counselor braced himself. He had a lot of experience with such holed-up teenagers some of them trapped by their own social anxieties others with at-risk behaviors who’ve dropped out of school and still others hit with all-too-common teenage depression to the extent that they’ve basically hidden themselves away and have bowed out of life raging at the world if provoked. If Danny was embarrassed to be seen in his present state not having showered for weeks and wearing pajamas would he rage at him? Would he slam the door in his face? Would he scream at him angry at being seen as a “project”?
Reb Gavriel always tries to be there for kids who need him and for their families who feel like hostages in their own homes. So he said “I know your son. Would you like me to come over and see what’s going on?”
Danny’s crisis wasn’t a new story just a new episode. His mental health had been shaky for a while but left untreated it began to deteriorate as his baffled parents looked on helplessly — it’s always hard to see a downward slide when you’re in the middle of it. And social phobia — sometimes called a silent disorder because it can affect children for years before being diagnosed is a gateway disorder to depression substance abuse and lifetime impairment.
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