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A medical specialty among doctors that didn’t exist a decade or so ago is starting to take off. It’s called adolescent medicine, and it may be just the thing to get teenagers to talk about issues they would otherwise keep silent about.
“I just see a family doctor,” says 15-year-old Hannah Mitchell.
“I’ve got a family doctor,” says 16-year-old Tierrell Moreland.
“I’m still with a pediatrician, but soon I’ll probably be with my mom’s doctor,” says 16-year-old Anjali.
But neither a family doctor nor a pediatrician is trained to solely treat teenagers.
“We still are primary care docs, but we may focus a little more on things that effect teenagers,” explains Dr. Yolanda Wimberly, adolescent medicine specialist, “such as reproductive health care, such as more school behavioral problems, such as [nutrition] – those types of things that are specifically geared towards teenagers.”
Other issues include substance abuse, birth control, eating disorders, learning disabilities, depression and STD’s.
“[We especially deal] with HIV,” explains Wimberly, “with young adults and teenagers being one of the fastest growing populations of people who are getting infected with the disease.”
She says doctors of adolescent medicine are trained to spend more time with teens – trained to talk and to listen.
“Adolescent-specific docs … feel comfortable talking about anything – especially sex, drugs, and rock and roll,” says Wimberly. “And so, because of that comfort level, we may be a little more effective in getting things out of our patients.”
Hannah Mitchell thinks she’d open up more if she had a doctor who was trained to talk with teens.
“[You could] probably [discuss] more of the sexual things that you’re not really comfortable talking about with … a regular doctor.”
Anjali agrees: “Because … with teenage girls, we start our period and all – stuff like that. When you have a sudden change, especially at my age, and, like, you feel something different about your body, you don’t know if it’s ‘cause stuff you’ve been doing or if it’s just because you’re getting older and you’re, like, a teenager.”
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