Seeking Support for My 18-Year-Old Injured Daughter

Summary

The Dr. Laura Podcast
Episode: Seeking Support for My 18-Year-Old Injured Daughter
Host: Dr. Laura Schlessinger
Date: May 12, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on a heartfelt call from a mother seeking advice on how to support her 18-year-old daughter, who continues to struggle with anxiety, depression, and a severe, unhealed spinal injury. Faced with the possibility of spinal fusion surgery, her daughter is both frightened and frustrated by her prognosis—triggering deeper fears and emotional struggles. Dr. Laura provides her signature no-nonsense counsel, offering actionable support strategies and challenging cultural attitudes toward anxiety and resilience in young people.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

Daughter’s Physical and Emotional Challenges

• The caller describes her daughter as suffering from severe anxiety, depression, and a significant spinal injury from a fall a year earlier.
• The proposed next medical step is spinal fusion surgery, which the daughter fears greatly.

  Quote: “She is terrified and enraged. I don’t know how to help her. I mean, almost mourn.”—Caller [01:38]

Dr. Laura’s Immediate Assessment and Strategy

• Dr. Laura quickly clarifies the medical status: the daughter can walk and is not paralyzed, which she underscores as a significant positive.
• She focuses on the psychological impact and recommends a peer support approach:
  • Having the surgeon connect the daughter with other young patients who've had the surgery for first-hand encouragement and realistic expectations.

    Quote: “Have the doctor put her in contact with some other young women and men who have had this surgery so she can... feel their support. That’s the fix.”—Dr. Laura [02:33]

  • Dr. Laura is critical of medical professionals who don’t facilitate a holistic support system.

    Quote: “If nobody’s willing to help you in that damn doctor’s office, get another doctor... If we’re not willing to put ourselves out to be helpful at a time like this, find one who is.”—Dr. Laura [03:06]

The Power of Perspective and Comparison

• Dr. Laura encourages reframing the situation by acknowledging the daughter's relative fortune (not paralyzed, still able to walk).

  Quote: “She can walk. A lot of people with injuries at her level…don't walk anymore…she's ahead of the game.”—Dr. Laura [04:36]

• She stresses the importance of learning to face and adapt to tough realities (“life does that”).

Practical Inspiration: The Movie Recommendation

• Dr. Laura recommends a real-life Netflix biopic “Walk. Ride. Rodeo.” (2019), telling the story of Amberley Snyder, a young barrel racer paralyzed from the waist down, who ultimately returns to competition.

  Quote: “She became paralyzed from the waist down…they rigged her up and she went back to riding, still paralyzed…That was her goal, which everybody said, you're paralyzed…and you're thinking about getting on a horse. Well, she did.”—Dr. Laura [06:09]

• She suggests watching the film together as a way to model resilience and broaden the daughter's perspective about overcoming profound setbacks.

  Quote: “I'd like you to sit with her and say, I talked to Dr. Laura and she said we should watch this movie from beginning to end.”—Dr. Laura [09:16]

Addressing the “Epidemic” of Anxiety & Depression in Young People

• Dr. Laura candidly critiques what she perceives as the normalization and indulgence of anxiety and depression among today’s youth, suggesting that “trouble facing life” is being medicalized or over-diagnosed.

  Quote: “I’m real bored with that...now it's suddenly disabling, and parents are overly catering to it.”—Dr. Laura [09:16]

• She urges the mother to encourage her daughter to “absorb and deal with” adversity, rather than allowing it to define her.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On doctor advocacy:
  “They are the hired help, just like a therapist is, just like a dentist is…If we're not willing to put ourselves out to be helpful at a time like this, find one who is.”—Dr. Laura [03:06]
• On supporting resilience:
  “Your job is to have her be able to stand up and face life.”—Dr. Laura [04:36]
• On cultural trends:
  “30 and under is anxiety and depressed. They're all together now…It's trouble facing life. There are things we have to simply absorb and deal with that aren't happifying without becoming a diagnosis.”—Dr. Laura [12:00]
• On the impact of the film:
  “It is amazing. I was riveted. And you know, there's nothing wrong with my back, and I was riveted.”—Dr. Laura [10:00]

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Important Timestamps

• 01:31 – Call begins; mother's description of daughter’s condition, emotional state
• 02:33 – Dr. Laura suggests peer support through doctor or personal research
• 03:06 – Dr. Laura’s strong advice on advocating for a supportive and experienced doctor
• 04:36 – Discussion on maintaining perspective and the importance of resilience
• 06:00 – Movie “Walk. Ride. Rodeo.” recommended as inspiration
• 09:16 – Dr. Laura addresses the “anxiety and depression” trend among youth, parents’ response
• 09:47 – Mom commits to following Dr. Laura’s recommendation

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Tone and Language

Dr. Laura remains her trademark blunt, practical self—balancing empathy for the caller’s pain with a strong, sometimes bracing push for personal accountability, resilience, and action. She is supportive but never coddling, and consistently encourages the mother to reframe the narrative, seek practical solutions, and resist cultural trends of over-pathologizing youthful distress.

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Summary Takeaways

• Advocate fiercely for your child’s physical and emotional support—change doctors if necessary.
• Connect with others who’ve faced (and overcome) similar challenges for direct, relatable hope.
• Model and reinforce resilience by exposing young people to real-life stories of overcoming adversity.
• Challenge passivity: Don’t let anxiety and depression become an excuse to opt out of facing life’s hard knocks.
• Keep perspective: Even in injury, look for strengths and possibilities, not just losses.

This episode delivers a focused, actionable conversation for any parent supporting a young adult through severe medical and emotional distress—and a clear reminder of Dr. Laura’s tough loving, clarity-over-comfort brand of advice.

Transcript

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[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Thanks for listening to my Call of the Day, brought to you by my new sponsor, Chapter. Chapter compares every Medicare plan nationwide. Helps you find the one that fits. Get your answer with one free call to Chapter. Go to AskChapter.org today to get the clarity you deserve. Remember, you can hear my radio program daily on Sirius XM triumph and connect with me 24.7drlaura.com Christina, welcome to the program.

[Caller (Mother)]

Hello. Thank you for speaking with me today.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Thank you. How can I help?

[Caller (Mother)]

I'm calling in because I have a daughter. She's 18. She suffers with anxiety and depression and about a year ago she fell and fractured a portion of her spine and the area has not healed. And the next course of action would be a fusion. And she is terrified and enraged. I don't know how to help her. I mean, almost mourn.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Okay, stop. Stop for a second. Let me. Woohoo. Stop for a section. Just hold it. Can she walk?

[Caller (Mother)]

Yes, she can. Not the way she could before, but she can, you know, she can walk.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Okay, so this is no paralysis?

[Caller (Mother)]

No.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Okay. She is scared of the surgery, Is that what you're saying? This is simply dealt with. Have the doctor put her in contact with some other young women and men who have had this surgery so she can have conversations with people she can identify with and feel their support. That's the fix.

[Caller (Mother)]

Is there another? I've asked her doctor, her surgeon for that information and they have not.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Go on the Internet and find it yourself. If nobody's willing to help you in that damn doctor's office, get another doctor, first of all, because frankly, the doctor's unwilling to make that effort. Forget that doctor. There's probably a better surgeon somewhere. I don't take that crap from. I mean, they're very experienced, very educated, but ultimately they are the hired help, just like a therapist is, just like a dentist is. We all are the hired help with high expertise. And if we're not willing to put ourselves out to be helpful at a time like this, find one who is. And if he has never done. Listen up. If he has never done surgery on young people before, so he has nobody to ask, find a surgeon who has had experience with younger people.

[Caller (Mother)]

That's why I've stuck with him, is because he does specialize in pediatric and the specific condition that she has now,

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

then if he specializes in pediatric, then he's. I don't understand why he's bullshitting you and saying he can't you in contact. So you'll have to figure that part out, however you're going to make that happen. But that's what needs to happen, in my opinion. That will help her tremendously.

[Caller (Mother)]

I will definitely do that. And. Can I ask another question?

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Sure.

[Caller (Mother)]

When she's like. Sometimes she gets really down about it. Like I said, it affects her daily life in a big way. She had like, some really big plans. She graduated.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Okay. You got a pen? Yeah. Life does that, you know. Come on. Your job is to have her be able to stand up and face life. She can walk a lot of people with injuries at her level someplace else in the spine. Don't walk anymore. So so far, she's ahead of the game. That's for you and me to understand. She's ahead of the game. So there is a movie done in 2019. I'm trying to remember. It's a Netflix. It's a. It's a biographical film. It's a real story. And it's Amber Lee Snyder. She was a barrel racer. Do you know who that is? They get on the horse and they run and they turn around a barrel and come back the other way, turn around a barrel and race that way. So she was a horseback rider who competed like a cowboy. All right. She had a car crash. It was her own stupid fault. She became paralyzed from the weights down. So the whole movie is showing truth, how she didn't want to live, she didn't want to try. And by the end of the movie, they rigged her up and she went back to riding still paralyzed from the waist down, but they made a whole apparatus for her on horseback

[Caller (Mother)]

and watch it with her.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

And it's called Walk, Ride, Rodeo.

[Caller (Mother)]

Thank you.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

She can't walk anymore. Okay. She's permanently paralyzed. No coming back from that. But to show. What I appreciated about showing this kind of biography is that it showed the truth. She's a young girl, just a year or two older than your daughter, and there's nothing for her to live for is what she thinks, because she's a young girl. When you're our age, you know what we used to do, we learn what we can do, and it's a different perspective, but when you're young, it seems terminal. And how people helped her and how she fought them helping her, and then how she became crazed about getting back on a horse. And that was her goal, which everybody said, you're paralyzed from the waist down and you're thinking about getting on a horse. Come on, think of something rational. Well, she did.

[Caller (Mother)]

She did it.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

She decided that.

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[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

So it has to come to a point where your daughter stops being. I'm anxious and depressed, which just about every person under 25 is these days. I'm real bored with that. You know, I remember growing up and there were things to be miserable about, things to be scared about. This, that, and the other thing. But now it's suddenly disabling, and parents are overly catering to it. So I'd like you to sit with her and say, I talked to Dr. Laura and she said we should watch this movie from beginning to end.

[Caller (Mother)]

I'll do it. And then I quote you at home. She'll listen.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Well, she shouldn't be. All right,

[Caller (Mother)]

but thank you very much, Rihope. I will definitely take.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

You're very welcome. Absolutely. It is amazing. I was riveted. And, you know, there's nothing wrong with my back. And I was riveted.

[Caller (Mother)]

Well, thank you.

[Dr. Laura Schlessinger]

Knock on wood. Yes. Knock on wood. Nothing wrong with my back. My number. Gonna take a break. My number is 1-800-375-2872. Yeah, she's riding in a car, and she's going pretty fast. And she's looking at her cell phone, and I think the phone dropped on the floor. So she leans over while the car is still going forward. She leans over the passenger seat to pick up her phone, and the car veers off the road. And of course, the road has these gulfs on either side. And the car flips over so many times you couldn't count them. And it severed her spinal cord. Terrifying to watch that part because you're sitting there going, stop the car. Put it in park. Go look for your phone. I mean, you find yourself doing that, right? Really? I'll make it 30, everybody. 30 and under is anxiety and depressed. They're all together now. It used to be anxiety or depression. Now it's just everything. I think it's trouble facing life. There are things we have to simply absorb and deal with that aren't happifying without becoming a diagnosis. And then the parents fall into this out of their loving hood. I made up the word 1-800-375-2872. If you like this podcast, be sure to rate it on Apple podcasts or your favorite place to listen to my podcast. Of course. I'd love if you gave me five stars. And be sure to share this podcast with a friend on Facebook or your preferred social media platform.

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