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A widespread misconception holds that one must analyze early childhood experiences in order to understand troubled teens present difficulties, the notion is that once a person is able to achieve "insight" into the origin of their troubled teens behavior, the teens problems can be readily resolved. However, experience does not always support this idea. After' years of psychotherapy, many people become veritable experts on their own dynamics, and yet they continue to be just as unhappy and troubled. It is not sufficient to learn that one's behavior is the result of "early maternal deprivation" or "unresolved oedipal anxieties." In fact, this kind of interpretation of the origins of a troubled teen's problems is generally of little value. Troubled Teens and Their History Troubled teen counselors who prefer to concentrate on the here and now are sometimes defensive about the accusation that they are not handling truly important matters. Somehow the feeling persists that those who do not dig out material long buried in a troubled teen's unconscious must be dealing in trivia, But what is really meant by depth? If a troubled teen counselor is not probing deep into case-history dynamics, does this mean he is therefore dealing only in superficialities? The word depth is really a biased word. We have heard troubled teen counselors describe themselves as "depth teen counselors," but who ever heard anyone's claiming to be a "shallow teen counselor"? The issue is not a simple controversy between depth and superficiality as some would like to make it appear. Focus on Present Problems With Teens Troubled teens with problems sometimes consume much therapy time talking about remote, trivial, and nearly forgotten events when it would be much better to work on tangible, relevant, present problems. We are not saying that it is never of value for troubled teens to relate his present problems to past experiences. To the contrary, an important part of the problem-solving process in WRA Boarding School for Troubled Teens is the life story a troubled teen communicates to his therapy group, because as the members gain perspective on the troubled teen's past they are better able to help in the present. However, the goal in telling one's life story is not to achieve insight but to help the group see how the troubled teen views himself. Further, the very act of sharing oneself is of great value, for the troubled teen is now invested in others: "I have told you about myself; so now I am a part of you.” Using Groups to Help Teens Sometimes troubled teens avoid real-life problems by becoming engrossed in philosophical discussions. Our Boarding School for Troubled Teens uses groups that do not become sidetracked in such considerations as "the changing sexual morality" or "the politics of race relations." While such discourse might well have educational value, it gives too easy an opportunity for verbally skillful troubled teens to intellectualize instead of dealing with their own immediate problems. Also, WRA Boarding School for Teens does not strive to encompass all of the educational topics often included in traditional counseling programs, such as "selecting a college" or "how to choose a vocation." As important as these concerns may be, they are not the focus of our Boarding School for and therefore should be handled in another context. Solving Real Problems for Teens Our Boarding School for Troubled Teens uses groups that do not occupy time in "psychological" discussions in which sophisticated terminology obscures troubled teens behavior. Further, therapy groups do not engage in acting out situations (psychodrama), in developing "sensitivity" through exercises in communication, in videotape analysis of behavior, or in any other such procedures. Rather, WRA Boarding School for problem teenagers is built solely around the solution of real-life problems. The learning that results from solving actual problems translates much more readily into future behavior than does the learning that results from artificial exercises in communication.
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