Chapter 5Always Stuck at School
While I shared with people the motivation behind this book, several have divulged some startling stories with me. Such is the case with my friend Bryan, who thought he lost his teenage daughter to depression.
Bryan and his wife Anna seemed to have model children. Their son and daughter are overachievers by anyone’s standards. They do well in school, have tons of friends, and are well adjusted.
Or so Bryan and Anna thought, until their daughter Monica, the younger of the two children, was a junior in high school and started missing school. She refused to go and even stopped wanting to get out of bed.
Anxiety and depression had engulfed her. It was bad. She missed so much school that she was on the edge of failing out. There was no sign she was ever going to go back. Her parents felt helpless, looking for reasons.
Monica would isolate herself in her room each day not doing anything. She wouldn’t read, wouldn’t check social media, wouldn’t watch TV.
As soon as this started, Bryan and Anna got her into therapy and tried everything they could to help their daughter. Nothing was working. They thought they were losing her.
Serious Triggers
In desperation, they sent her to a private girls’ school in the Northwest that focused on helping girls with addictions, behavioral problems, and other trauma. At the school, the students were completely unplugged from social media and technology. There were consequences for failing to follow the rules, and it was ...
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