Straight Talk: Helping Bright Teens Through Tough Times (continued)

On a positive note, gifted kids generally have better mental health than average. (Nadia Webb)

Some teens with underlying depression start to sleep longer hours than usual. They avoid going out with their friends. They either overeat to literally fill the body or starve themselves to punish the body. (Esther Sinclair)

Kids expect their parents to keep them safe, and when they learn that parents aren't always able to do so, it can be frightening. (Esther Sinclair)

Resources

Adolescence

• Tips for Parents: Highly Gifted/Profoundly Gifted (HG/PG) Adolescent (2006) 
• Tips for Parents: The Real World of Gifted Teens
• Tips for Parents: Gifted...and Teenage, Too
• Motivation -- Helping your child through early adolescence
• Talented Teenagers: The Roots of Success and Failure (Book Review)

Grief

• The Dougy Center for Grieving Children & Families
• National Mental Health Association -Coping with Loss
• Bereavement and Grief
• Children and Grief
• A Guide to Children's Grief
• Grief in childhood and adolescence
• Eight myths about children, adolescents and loss
• Eternal Flames (book list)
• PBS Special: In The Mix Discussion Guide - "Dealing With Death". This guide suggests several writing and group activities that address perceptions and emotions related to death.

Books on Grief for Young Adults

• Helping Teens Work Through Grief by Mary Kelley Perschey
• When a Friend Dies: A Book for Teens About Grieving & Healing by Marilyn E. Gootman
• I Will Remember You by Laura Dower
• Living With Grief: Who We Are How We Grieve by Hospice Foundation of America

Depression and Suicide

• Guiding the Gifted Child (Book Review)
• A psychological autopsy of the suicide of an academically gifted student by T. Cross, K. Gust-Brey, & P. Bonny Ball
• Suicide Among Gifted Adolescents
• Existential depression in gifted individuals
• TeensHealth: Suicide
• American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry: Teen Suicide
• SAVE (Suicide Awareness Voice of Education)
• WebMDHealth - Teens & Depression
• On the Social and Emotional Lives of Gifted Children by Dr. Tracy Cross, discusses in significant detail depression and specifically suicide in the gifted adolescent and what causes these crises.
• Depressive Disorder and Highly Gifted Adolescents

Permission Statement

© 2005 Davidson Institute for Talent Development.

This article is provided as a service of the Davidson Institute for Talent Development, a 501(c)3 nonprofit operating foundation, which nurtures and supports profoundly intelligent young people and to provide opportunities for them to develop their talents and to make a positive difference. For more information, please visit http://www.davidson-institute.org, or call (775) 852-3483.