Explain the relationship of Existential theory for adolescents.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Adolescents, especially ones with co-occurring SUD, severe mental illness, and a suicide history, face these types of scenarios. From an existential perspective, they were granted freedom of choice, and (how they see it) they failed at the task of managing that responsibility. This bothers them. It reinforces their notion that maybe they cannot make choices toward being and instead are always putting themselves at risk of nonbeing. When they see how their actions radically altered their parents’ behaviors (which are interpreted as scared), adolescents’ fears about being able to engage with freedom, make decisions, and craft a being are amplified. They see the parental behaviors as a measure of just how “bad” they were at developing their being. Self-doubt settles in, and the counselor, again through the mutual relationship, assists the client to understand how these dysfunctional choices do not dictate that all future attempts at being will end in the same manner. This is the primary obstacle the counselor must work toward removing so that treatment can be effective. Imagine trying to engage an adolescent in that dialogue if he or she sees the counselor as just another authority figure.