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The Intelligent Divorce Project has recently we have been focusing on The Malignant Divorce because divorce related violence is often in the news. With this submission, "Teenagers: To Medicate or Not to Medicate," we are introducing a new recurrent theme to our blog, dealing with Raising Healthy Children. We hope that our site allows the reader to learn about divorce from a variety of viewpoints. The children of divorce certainly deserve their place in this discussion.

While some of the information found in Raising Healthy Children is specific to divorce, much of what we will be talking about can be useful to all parents, married, never married or divorced.

We hope that you find this series useful. Feel free to give us feedback.

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Teenagers are rarely easy. Normal adolescents, bless their hearts, can be moody, demanding, self centered and otherwise preoccupied at the expense of their studies or the family. When things go wrong, it can be rocky going. Depression, eating disorders, oppositional behavior and drug use are just some of the quagmires lying in the way of healthy adolescent development. Treatment can be a Godsend; even medications when appropriate can help many of the problems that teens may face.

So, do we just run to medicate an adolescent when he or she starts to show symptoms during a divorce? The side effects of medications are real, but not doing any treatment may lead to far worse. This discussion is part one of an overview that can help you to get it right. For a more complete treatment of this issue, look at the Intelligent Divorce book series, which provide chapters on the successful evaluation and treatment of teens in who are in trouble.

The teenage brain is a developing organ that won't reach maturity until twenty-five or so, and the psychological roller coaster of emerging independence and sexuality can be daunting for girls and boys alike. Add a divorce (or any real stress), and figuring out what's going on psychologically can be tricky. While your adolescent may be inherently inconsistent, moody, or test limits, during a divorce there are additional pressures to deal with over which he has little control - like the dissolution of the family as he knows it, perhaps warring parents or just worries about what the future may hold.

So how do you tell the difference between an upset teen and a teen that needs treatment, and maybe medication? 

Five important questions can help.