Dr. Keith-
I was so upset when I saw how Taylor's family treats her. They blame it all on her and take no responsibilty for her attitude. I can relate to Taylor because whenever my family and I get in an arguement, my parents blame it all on me. Money problems and their attitudes are my fault. I wish her family would wake up and take responsiblity. She didn't raise herself to be this way. You learn from what you see. I think that fighting is the only way that Taylor can get her family's attention. If I could tell Taylor anything, I would tell her to hold on and don't give up on yourself. And if I could say anything to Taylor's mom and sisters, I would tell them to stop blaming her. It's their fault. She's only a young girl, she can't be to blame for everything. I hope her family is proud of how they looked on national television because to me, and many others, they looked like idiots and bad role models. I hope Taylor can stop believing that everything is her fault because it isn't. Hang in there Taylor!

Dear Dr keith i am writing you about the family that you had on tv with the mothe trina 2 sisters and taylor she seemed to be the problem so everyone thought. this episode my boyfriend seen and recorded it for me because taylor is in so many ways me when i was her age except i never went to school and i was sexually abused by my father and brother and whom ever friends that my father had over playing cards i left home when i was 13 with now my ex husband i just got my divorce after 6years i have 6 childreen i lived in utah for most of my life with him and my childreen and his beleife is being a morman and that women are to be seen and not herd i got tired of women he was messing with bringing me flowers that my husband bought them and told me i need to keep him home thats when i new i needed out for someone to tell you this its like its not right noone could ever be that way well i am that one that has lived through hell and at 36 yrs old i still am angry at the whole world i have been diagnosed with bipolar and other things but nothing is me you hit right at home with this story of this little girl except i have taught myself to read and write and everything i know i went to school with my children and i learned with them it was imbarrising to let someone know that someone as old as me dont know i have 3 sisters and one brother and my birth parents but i dont talk to anyone of them when i told my husband that i wanted a divorce he ran off and hide with my 6 children and the first time i got to see them was a year later and he told the kids everything was all my fault so my kids hold a grudge and yes i am writing to let you know that when taylor said she dont know what she is angry at i know that all to well and when you start out as a regular talk and then something clicks and you are angry and you hate everyone and everything and you want them to hurt like you do or u dont even know why you are mad but u are i have been unable to hold down a job and i have thought of many things but i am here i am happy now i just dont know how to tell and show them well i have took enough of you time thanks dana

Man, I can feel every bit of what taylor is feeling. My family was identical to her's when I was her age. I became the scapegoat for my father when he turned into an raging alcoholic. I protected my mom, brother and sister from him, most of the time. I became what Taylor is to her family, the thorn in everyones side. I partied, got into trouble, basically standing on the mountain top screaming for someone to hear me. I can remember the confusing thoughts I had, I didn't know how to express what I was thinking, how I was feeling, what was supposed to happen, I simply knew there was something terrably wrong with me and my family and nobody wanted to talk about it. But all they wanted to do was keep me quiet. My dad went to alcohol treatment and quit drinking 22 years ago but my family has never recovered from it, I'm 38 now. My parents, brother and sister never wanted to deal with anything, so here we are twenty-some years later still not talking to each other and scattered across the country. Life is crazy.
Dr. Ablow is absolutely right when he states that life cycles are repeated from generation to generation. I have found out over the years generally what kind of childhood my parents had. They didn't come right out and tell me its more that I've studied the dynamics of the way they interact with there own parents and siblings. I think they either had the same life or much worse.
I don't typically make comments on any of these shows but this one stuck me hard. I am from the area of the country that these people are from, their language acsent and the comments are unmistakeable. The way the mother and sisters were treating taylor brought me right back to how my family treated me. I just hope they don't end up where we are now.
The only credit I have for this family is they had the guts to go on national TV and diplay themselves. I only hope that taylor's mother and sisters will eventually take time to understand her.

Dear Dr. Keith,
I am a 17 year old with some crazy childhood and past life stories. My mother actually gave me this website because she thinks its a good idea and i totally agree. But to the basics of this teen that is at serious risk and danger. Ok, my little sister (Naomi) is 14 going on 15 in march and she is basically on the streets. See my mother is addicted to drugs an i recently found a new way in life. By my father accepting me into his family and changing everything, which i praise the lord for and my grandmother. This move happened when i was 16, over the summer when i was at the point of desperation. Since then my sister has been with my mother who is unfit to care for her, nevertheless herself. Now my sister and i have different dads. She is still under my mothers full custody ( her dad has never really been there for her). In the past 2 years my mother has gone way down hill. We lost two houses by eviction, because she inherited money and quit her job being a RN (6 years of college down the drain). But after we lost our second house of only 2 years she then totaled her car. I was undescribably astonished. Now I feel bad about just leaving my sister by i am still a teen myself and there is nothing i can do. It would of already happened. Thats why i am telling you all this because i have gotten to the point of where i rather see my sister in a foster home then in the atmosphere she is in, because it is taking her life down the wrong path. I have even called children & families (never even imagined doing) they didnt do a damn thing! My mom is staying with a friend which her life has been this way since before i even moved out. I couldnt handle it. This person lives a good distance away from the area in which my little 14 year old sister is living on her own. Not only does it get worse but she i know is abusing drugs, hanging around the wrong people, and she has a bad, i mean bad attitude (mostly anger). I could go on and on with this not getting anywhere. Shoot i could write a book, but I have experienced so much in my childhood life i have even lost part of it. Now i do blame my mother but not for everything, and i still love her with all my heart she just took the wrong turn in life. Most of what i have gone through and the stuff i have seen changed my whole aspect of life. I do see myself as a teen but not in mind. I have been through soo much and to see, hear, and know all these things. Knowing my little sister is out there alone not having anybody scares me it can instantly bring me to tears. I worry soo much and have tried with everything but i havent got anywhere. But to make a long story short. All i am asking is for help, advice, anything hopefully a change. If its possible there are no words to even describe my feelings.
Sincerely,
Sara

PS
Please tell me something

My son,

I have a now 17 year old son who also suffers from
uncontrolled outburst (he
explains to me "I get so
angry", I believe the last
outburst was due to a broken microwave and he had
to heat his soup on the stove). I have realized over the years that these
children are extremely sensitive. They seem to not only experience their own emotions and feeling, but take on every one elses as well. Unfortunately they are unable to cope and deal with these intense feeling.
They feel overwhelmed and out of control. I had a child telling me at one point (and others) how much he loved me and could not live without me, then turn around and call me every name in the book because the microwave was broken. Throughout all of this, we had our times we could sit and talk. He explains that he is overwhelmed by his emotions and that he looks to me (the mother) to help him. when he hits these boiling points he wants HELP but all he can do is lash out. As I retreat from him because of his behavior, it only makes him angrier. See the ugly cicle. It is hard to reach out to anyone (even your child) when they are attacking you verbally, as theses children do. Although I have found out it can be done. Several christmases ago (christmas was always tough for my son) he had an outburst and as he screamed at me and the family, letting us know how much he hated us all, I grabbed him in my arms, we both ended up on the floor. I rapped my legs around him and held him as he continued to scream at me. He ordered me to let him go, I held on and as I cried I keeped telling him that I loved him. Soon the screaming and squrming stopped and he started to cry. It was like this cloud of anger had passed, and under it was his true emotional state: saddness. Those were the moments that I truely understood what he was feeling and we talked. The only reason I held him that day was because severely days prior we talked. He told me he needed me to hold him when he felt overwhelmed. I explained to him that I had a hard time getting close to him since he directed all his anger on him, but he stated as I backed off it just made him even angrier.

Dear Dr. Keith,

Watching the show on troubled teens, and seeing your compassion for those girls deeply touched my heart. I wish you had been around when I was a teenager. I'm a survivor of SRA, and only rarely received compassion and tenderness from men. Mostly all I received from men, including my father, was sexual abuse, for being so pretty. It's been a tough climb, and I'm not on the mountaintop yet, I still suffer from my father's legacy, but I'm stronger at the broken places, and a Christian also. GBU, am praying for you,

Kerri.

I really wanted to hug Taylor and tell her that /I'm/ sorry for what she had to go through. And then kick her mother in the teeth and tell her that /she/ needs to apologize to her daughter for putting her through hell, instead of shrugging it off. "There's nothing I can do about it. It's in the past!" No, idiot, it isn't: it's right there staring you in the face. Stop beating up on Taylor for being p*ssed off. She has every right to be. You've treated that girl horribly, and now you have to deal with the aftermath of what your choices brought you.

Stop shifting blame to her and take responsibility for the crap you put her through. And call off your little terrier allies.

Dr. Keith....The show on the teen out of control was excellent. I hope the mom and the other two daughters will watch that tape over and over to break their denial. You are at your best when you share your psychiatry with us. The general population in this case, do not have a clue as to what a scape goat is in a family and it is a huge service to bring it to light. Keep up the good work and please keep sharing things that we all need to learn in order to improve our lives. My heart broke for that teen, she was screaming for them to listen to the pain....Thank you, I am enjoying your show so much...

I was so upset watching the show with Taylor, her sisters and her mother. My teen years were VERY simaliar to Taylors and was full of anger myself. And after watching todays show I realize why. Taylor sat there and let blame fall right into her lap. But what else could she do but sit there and let the blame fall? Her sisters blamed her, her mother blamed her and Taylor was never able to speak what was really behind all that anger. Of course shes angry! It appeared to me she was literally ganged up on by her own family. Growing up it was always when I changed the family would change. But today as an adult working with troubled teen girls myself that is NOT what its about. She is a child. She needs to be a child. And from the show she is so far from being able to be a child. I personally blame the mother in this. She has beautiful daughters and Taylor gets the blame for the family dynamics?

Dear Dr. Keith,
I think it is courageous for your guests to come on national television to tell their stories. The show about teens at risk was tear-jerking, because teens are so unpredictable. They lash out at any discipline. That is how they express who they really are and at times they really have no clue. Life is hard enough and at this day and age life stresses many aged people.

My advice to the parents of those teens is to just love them the best they can and hope for the best. Parents anymore seem to be afraid to discipline their teens in fear of pushing their beautiful child away.

I have a 17 year old daughter and she is very independent. I learned through plenty of mistakes I needed to listen to my daughter. She is human as well as me and her opinion matters just the same. I had her at 16 and I didn't want her to make the same mistakes I did, so I became very controlling and I was pushing her away. She began to hang out with many troubled kids and I knew if I did not do something she would get into alot of trouble. I asked her when she was about 14, "Chelsea, what can I do to be a better parent?" She answered, "Be my mother, not my friend." See, this little communication brought me to be a better parent and now she is not rebellious she seems to respect me as her mother and I have authority now. Friends do not have authority over one another. Many parents try to be a friend to their child because they think it brings them closer and by experience it does not.

My opinion, kids want structure in their lives. How else will they learn responsibility? We as parents have to always remember to love our children even when they are at their worst. Without love our world will go to hell. We should always discipline with love not anger. Thanks for listening to my opinion.

God bless you all and my prayers are with you.

this poor child is so desprate for her mothers love and comfort!! that woman doesnt deserve to have a child that caring. she says she keeps trying and that they want her there but act very differently. its three aginst one here this child is so alone!!

I watched your show today and thought to myself how much this family is alot like mine in so many ways. I feel sorry for the younger daughter because I was where she is so many years ago and maybe a little yet today. I wish her the best of luck!! She is going to need it to get over all the anger the child has built up. I really and truely hope that her story ends better than mine. I no long speak to one of my brothers and am about to stop speaking to my entire family all together, it just healthier for me this way. But all-in-all I wish the girl lots of luck she has a long way to go.

My nine year old dtr sounds EXACTLY like this girl did... I was unable to watch the entire show but the parts I did watch when the mother explained how she hits, SCREAMS, and fights ALL THE TIME when she is at HOME ONLY.. that is my child... She is only 9 years old but she "hates her life" yet she can go anywhere else and behave and I am told by many "we wish all the kids were as good as yours." She's a psychiatrist and counselor weekly but I need help. The anger and the episodes have been escalating over the last 2-3 weeks and I am at a loss... I guess my next step is to call the crisis ctr and have them come get her but I can't bring myself to do it.. she is only 9! It is also just like her because "the word NO sets her off." I need help and was unable to watch whole show... she has seen several psychiaitrists and has tried several antidepressants, though she is currently on none. She is on seroquel for anger though and she has mild Tourette;s which I know can cause behavior problems.. can someone please give me any help??? THANKS!

This young girl needed many many hugs from her mom. Mother seems to have been a cold person... Maybe expecting her young girl to accept her, and she did not see how her young one was truely in great need of love.