The Identity Trap: Saving Our Teens from Themselves - Hardcover

Silver Winner, 2008 Nautilus Book Awards, Parenting/Family category

"Violent behavior. Eating disorders. Drug use and drinking. Self-mutilation. These are just some of the troubling issues arising with increased frequency among teens. As they negotiate adolescence, our children become harder to reach -- and are more at risk. In order to help them, we need to understand what is really behind their problems. The answer lies in the very nature of adolescence: the quest for identity.

""Who am I?"" is the central question of growing up, and The Identity Trap gets to the heart of why our teens so easily fall prey to their own worst impulses and to the destructive habits of their peers. Nowinski, a psychologist who has worked with troubled teens for over two decades, demonstrates that traditional methods of discipline (e.g. reward and punishment) will have no lasting effect if the root causes of teens’ problems are left unchecked. This eye-opening book offers real solutions for opening the lines of communication and helping children survive the seemingly universal perils of growing up.

Filled with inspiring real-life stories, The Identity Trap will resonate with those parents frustrated by their inability to combat their children’s problems; with parents looking to prevent problems; and with professionals seeking a better way to help kids find the right path to adulthood."

Joseph Nowinski, Ph.D. (Tolland, CT) has counseled teens and their parents for more than 20 years, and is Associate Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Connecticut. He is the author of Six Questions That Can Change Your Life.