I would urge all of the regular contributors on this board to stop minimizing the gravity of the situation by unprudently suggesting that the boy is going through some normal, transient stage that all or most teens go through. Most teens don’t curse their parents, let alone to their face. Most teens don’t wander the streets, almost every night, until 4am. Most teens don’t smoke, and many won’t drink, except under normal social circumstances like a wedding or bar mitzvah. Most teens aren’t depressed, anxious, and have a low self-esteem. Very, very few teens drop out of Yeshiva, and almost no teens tell their parents they “want to be a street kid”. Clearly you are trying to be helpful, but in reality all that is accomplished is a build-up of wishful thinking by WOW. Has it occured to anyone that the boy might actually be suffering from a REAL MEDICAL CONDITION? Do you give an asthmatic or diabetic a warm and fuzzy hug in the hopes of getting him to feel better, or do you say go see a doctor? I know everyone wants to believe that psychiatrists are there to treat ‘other peoples problems’, certainly ‘I or my child doesn’t need one’, but perhaps its time to see this for what it is?
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