The Emergency Room Catches Teens at the Worst Moment
Psychology Today | 11.08.2026 22:23
A 16-year-old comes into the emergency department after a night that went sideways. Maybe it's a car crash. Maybe it's a panic attack that won't stop, or a friend who called 911 because someone wasn't breathing right. The chief complaint rarely says "substance use." It says something else. Somewhere in that visit, a screening question gets asked, and the answer changes what should happen next.
