Product Description

A former Harvard University researcher and lecturer offers lifesaving solutions for parents of struggling adolescent girls.

Media, peers, and even parents send teen girls dangerously conflicting messages about what it means to look and act just right, to be good, hip, attractive, and desired. Frighteningly, everyday events can start a teen on a downward spiral. The growing rate of depression in teens is alarming, and parents must understand the difference between "normal adolescent angst" and trouble:

o Why silence reflects a girl’s desperate wish for inclusion, not isolation
o Recognizing signals in problem behavior
o Vulnerabilities in dating, friendships, school, and family. Dr. Machoian also offers guidance for:
o Parents—conversation topics to help girls navigate mixed messages, develop their identity, make healthy decisions, and build resilience that will empower them throughout life.
o Daughters—activities, including the Emotional First-Aid Kit, that girls can use to de- stress and build character.

Featuring dozens of real-life stories, this book will show parents what to look for if their daughters aren’t thriving, how to better listen and respond, and how to manage their own feelings of helplessness.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #471174 in Books
• Published on: 2005-03-24
• Format: Bargain Price
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 272 pages

From Publishers Weekly
A former student of esteemed girl expert Carol Gilligan, Harvard researcher Machoian sets out to determine why so many young women seem to emotionally withdraw and to explain how parents and others can help them. According to Machoian, teenage girls begin to "disappear" when they feel disconnected from friends or family, and when the pressures of society (fitting in, staying thin, etc.) become overwhelming. Often, she's discovered, the trouble starts when girls shift from grade school to middle school, or middle school to high school. Though parents and others may see a girl's problems as natural "teen angst," Machoian warns that too often a girl's serious depression is ignored (in the past, she points out, experts did not even believe that teens experienced depression). Fortunately, Machoian claims, there is much adults can do to help, and interspersed among the text's rather weighty case histories are numerous tips for a "whole-girl approach," addressing mind, body, heart and soul with practical solutions. Physical activities, volunteering, proper sleep and diet, supportive peers, coping skills and being with family are all ways to keep girls on track. Most important, Machoian says, parents who listen and talk to their daughters make a crucial difference. (On sale Mar. 21)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
It's old news that adolescence brings with it a host of physical, cognitive, and emotional changes. But Machoian, a Harvard researcher and lecturer, insists that teenage girls' "vulnerability to depression in early adolescence" is serious enough to warrant special attention. Her book, which blossomed from research she did for her dissertation, gives parents a heads up that may help them make the difficult distinction between normal teen angst and the circumstances that signal real trouble. She focuses predominately on ages 14, 15, and 16, amplifying her text with personal stories and commentary that bring an immediacy to the emotions and pressures that today's young women have in common. Throughout, she makes it clear that there is no universal panacea, but at the same time, she remains optimistic about the resilience of young women and the ability of their parents, equipped with the right kind of information, to weather difficult times. Stephanie Zvirin
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover
"This is a hopeful book—for parents, teachers, therapists, and also for girls."
—Carol Gilligan, author of In a Different Voice

"This insightful and important book is a must read for all those relating to girls."
—Rachel Simmons, author of Odd Girl Out

Customer Reviews

An uplifting book on depression!
Paradoxically enough, Lisa's book on teenage depression was quite uplifting! While recognizing and validating the severity of the increasing levels of depression and suicide attempts in teenage girls, Lisa's book also offers hope. The theme of her book is nicely summarized in her introductory comment of: "No matter how despairing [teenage girls] may feel, there is always a spark of hope with them, and the energy to make their troubles visible to themselves and others."

The book focuses on how we can keep our eyes and ears open to the language of teenage depression, and ultimately help the girls find their "spark." Lisa illustrates how teenage girls are especially at risk for depression when they silence their inner core of self in an attempt to conform and belong with others. Empty inside, these girls crave genuine connections to bring them back to life. This book helps to pave that road from isolation to connection.

The Disappearing Girl also offers a look into the cognitive, societal, and developmental contributors of teenage depression, as well as tools and resources to help these girls develop coping strategies and healthy relationships to help them in their struggles. Whether you're a parent, friend, teacher, or therapist of a teenager who is depressed, or are a depressed teenager yourself, Lisa's book offers a lifeline worth reaching out for.

Extremely Helpful
If you're a parent of an adolescent girl, then you need to read "The Disappearing Girl" by Dr. Lisa Machioan. With it being written specifically for depression in teenage girls, it is a very helpful resource for parents, friends and even the disappearing girl herself to use when a teenage girl you know or you yourself are experiencing signs of depression. It uses real-life stories told by girls who have been in all kinds of situations involving depression and even suicide attempts to give the reader an honest look at the many different things that may spark depression in the teenage girl. It also gives helpful suggestions on what to do to keep depression from ruling young girl's lives. I highly recommend this to everyone involved in a depressed girl's life, or even to all mothers with a young daughter who may fall victim to depression.

Great Resource for Parents of Teenage Girls
Whether or not you think your teenage girl is depressed, this is a valuable resource. The author's perspective is so down-to-earth, her advice so accessible, and her care for the girls so evident, that this book is a must-read for any parent of a depressed teenage girl, and a should-read for any parent of any teenage girl.

For anyone who liked "Silencing the Self" by Dana Crowley Jack -- that was research about depressed women -- this is a very similar book about depressed girls. What makes those two books so valuable is that they are based on counseling actual women and girls--not on theoretical psychology derived in the vacuum of an ivory tower.