Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager

An updated and expanded version of a title that has helped families tackle tough teenage behavior dynamics for twenty-five years

Every teenager pushes limits—talks back, breaks curfew, or refuses to follow rules. But now, millions of teens are taking those behaviors to the extreme—disrupting families, damaging relationships, or showing aggression. If one of these teens is yours, you’ve likely lived through years of conflicting advice and quick fixes that don’t last.

Finally, a breakthrough guide.

Parenting Your Out-of-Control Teenager is the fully updated and revised guide from a master therapist with decades of clinical experience—and a parent of two extreme teens. This new edition goes beyond surface behaviors to address the deeper emotional problems driving today’s teens, including trauma, anxiety, grief, depression, and living life on a screen-driven world. With clear, step-by-step strategies, this book gives parents practical tools to reestablish authority and reclaim love—when nothing you’ve tried is working.

Scott Sells, PhD, lays out eight proven strategies to help parents create lasting change with even the most difficult teen problems:

1. Top ten reasons why teenagers get out of control
2. End button-pushing
3. It takes a village: Mobilize your extended family
4. How to write a contract that actually works
5. Techniques to solve teenagers’ extreme behavioral problems (disrespect, aggression, tech battles, lying, stealing, alcohol or drug use, running away, failing grades, etc.)
6. Techniques to solve teenagers' extreme emotional problems (anxiety, depression, trauma, self-harm, threats of suicide, grief, self-harm, etc.)
7. Troubleshooting and dress rehearsals
8. Reclaiming love between you and your teenager

Clear and practical, with hundreds of real-life solutions from families who have faced these same challenges, this book gives parents the tools they need to get their teen—and their family—back on track quickly.