When Help Becomes Harm: How Over-Helping Keeps Teens Stuck

Scott explores how genuine pain in teenagers can harden into a 'victim stance'—a learned helplessness that gets rewarded and stuck. He explains three common parental traps (over-rescue, endless validation, and lowered expectations) and offers the ACE framework (Acknowledge, Connect, Expect) to hold compassion while promoting agency.

The episode includes practical examples, signs that distinguish real trauma from a victim stance pattern, and one simple action step: notice when you accommodate instead of expecting more.