Sunday, February 17, 2002		Stressbusters

• Eating or weight problems,

• Excessive daydreaming,

• Drug abuse or nervous tics like unusual eye-blinking,

• Nail biting,

• Muscle twitching.

• Withdrawing,

• Not communicating,

• Becoming rebellious, and

• Getting into trouble.

Complain of being a bad person or feeling "rotten inside"

Give verbal hints with statements such as: "I won’t be a problem for you much longer,"

(a) "Nothing matters,"

(b) "It’s no use," and

(c) "I won’t see you again"

Put his or her affairs in order, for example, give away favourite possessions, clean his or her room, throw away important belongings etc.

Become suddenly cheerful after a period of depression

Have signs of psychosis (hallucinations or bizarre thoughts)

If a child or an adolescent says: "I want to kill myself" or "I’m going to commit suicide," always take the statement seriously and seek evaluation from a child and adolescent psychiatrist or other physician.

Distractibility — the teen’s attention moves constantly from one thing to the next

Repeated high risk-taking behaviour; such as abusing alcohol and drugs, reckless driving, or sexual promiscuity.

(The writer is a senior Haryana cadre police officer)