Helping Your Angry Teen: How to Reduce Anger and Build Connection Using Mindfulness and Positive Psychology

Are you at your wits’ end dealing with an angry teen? This important guide offers frustrated parents powerful mindfulness tips to navigate heated moments of interaction with their child, as well as skills based in positive psychology to foster compassion, caring, and lasting connection.

Does your teen get angry easily or act out? You aren’t alone. Parenting a teen is hard enough, but parenting an angry teen is especially difficult. You might feel unable to keep your own cool during disagreements, or even worry that your relationship with your teen is doomed. So, how can you make sure you stay grounded when the drama rises and reestablish a sense of connection?

Written by a psychologist and teen expert, this book offers techniques based in mindfulness, compassion, and positive psychology to help you face the challenges that parenting an angry teen presents. You’ll discover the clinical and psychological underlying conditions that can contribute to teen anger, skills for improving communication, and mindfulness tips for staying calm yourself. In addition, you’ll learn skills for reestablishing a compassionate and connected relationship.

If you’re ready to take control of your own reactions and start reconnecting with your angry teen, this book will help guide the way.

Mitch R. Abblett, PhD, is a clinical psychologist and executive director of The Institute for Meditation and Psychotherapy, a non-profit focusing on education and training at the intersection of mindfulness and treatment. For over a decade, he was clinical director of the Manville School, a Harvard-affiliated therapeutic day school program in Boston, MA, serving children with emotional, behavioral, and learning difficulties. He maintains a private psychotherapy and consulting practice (www.drmitchabblett.com), and writes about mindfulness, professional development, and family mental health. His books include The Heat of the Moment in Treatment (W.W. Norton) for clinicians, Mindfulness for Teen Depression (New Harbinger, coauthored with Chris Willard, PsyD), and the upcoming Overcoming the Five Hindrances to Awakened Living (Shambhala Publications). He also coauthored the child/family friendly practice aid Growing Mindful, as well as additional mindfulness-related card decks. He conducts national and international trainings regarding mindfulness and its applications.