Dr. Lisa Machoian, a former Harvard University researcher and lecturer, offers lifesaving solutions for parents, educators, counselors, others working with girls, and for teens themselves.

Media, peers, and even parents send teenage girls dangerously conflicting messages about what it means to look and act just right and to be good, hip, attractive, and desired. Frighteningly, everyday events can start a teen on a downward spiral. The growing rate of depression in teens is alarming, and parents and adults must understand the difference between “adolescent angst” and trouble. The Disappearing Girl explores:

• Why silence reflects a girl’s desperate wish for inclusion, not isolation
• Recognizing signals of problem behavior
• Vulnerabilities in dating, friendships, school, and family
• Signs of girls' hope

Dr. Machoian also offers guidance for:

Parents and other adults—on starting meaningful conversations with girls and helping them navigate mixed messages in their lives, develop their identity, make healthy decisions, and build resilience that will empower them throughout life.

Girls—activities including the Emotional First-Aid Kit, that girls can do with friends, alone, or with adults for self-expression, to de-stress, to cope, and to build a positive and strong sense of self, identity and character.

Combining twenty years of research, teaching, psychotherapy, and working with parents, teachers, therapists, social workers, counselors, caregivers, and teens, Dr. Machoian's The Disappearing Girl, based on the girls telling their own stories, explores teen depression, and provides essential guidance for helping the girls we love.

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