The Writer Taking on the “Troubled Teen” Industry

Kenneth R. Rosen’s parents had him kidnapped and sent to unregulated wilderness therapy camps. His next book dives deep into these murky programs.

It’s three a.m. when two hulking men barge into your room and aggressively wake you. They demand you do as they say. You are told to follow them into a car, and at this point it’s evident that you have no other option. You pile into a black SUV without saying goodbye to your family and have no idea where you are going. 

This is what thousands of American teenagers experience upon entering the punitive and rigorous curriculums of wilderness therapy programs, most of which operate outside government or psychiatric regulation. Author Kenneth R. Rosen was one such teenager. Rosen's personal experience in the alternative therapy industry, which he wrote about at Narratively, helped feed the reporting that would eventually manifest in his upcoming book, Troubled, out on January 12th, 2021.

Over the course of the book, Rosen follows a small handful of young adults through their treatment and eventual release, shedding long-overdue light on the aggressive treatment protocols. Rosen talked to Na…